


High School With The Romans

by Reyna_is_epic



Series: Things I regret writing [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, High School, SPQR, The Hunters of Artemis - Freeform, The Romans, complete crap, dear god no, don't read it, seriously, this is really bad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-12 11:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 29
Words: 59,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5664736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reyna_is_epic/pseuds/Reyna_is_epic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a month since the war with Gaia and Thalia grace along with all the other demigods have been "rewarded" by the gods with what they've always wanted. A chance to live a normal life, or in this case go to high school without the prospect of getting killed by monsters everyday. Instead the prospect of getting killed by monsters once a month.<br/>Thalia disagrees that this is a "reward" when faced with the fact that she will have to give up her eternal maidenhood until she graduates from highschool and that all her friends are on the otherside of the US attending Goode High, while she's stuck in San Fransisco going to Franklin Adrien school for the Gifted. The acronym doesn't help her like her situation anymore.<br/>When Thalia discovers that she has ended up attending the same school as the roman Preator Reyna, Frank, and Hazel she is a little more then relieved that she isn't the only demigod at this school, but something dark hangs over Franklin's school when Thalia joins the school's football team and some members of her team start to mysteriously disappear. Only the demigods can save Franklin from the coming disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. School

**Author's Note:**

> These characters belong to the Amazing rick riordan, you should check him out if you haven't. Also I wrote this on Wattpad first, if there's any confusion there I want you to know I am the same person. Promis

Thalia Grace's POV

Gods dam it. I hate school! I hate waking up early, I hate teachers, I hate principals, I hate homework, and I hate math. I HATE SCHOOL! Now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets continue as to why I am in school. Simple, the gods took our requests of a "normal life" to literally. I'd take 1,000 monsters over math homework any day. What's 1,000 monsters plus a bow and a knife? Zero monsters, simple. What's negative b time 8 to the 28th power? WHO CARES?! Now I am alone in front of my new school, Franklin Adrien School of the Gifted, or the nickname given to us by every other school and or kid in the entire state, FAG school. Fantastic, I want this on my permanent record. I also dislike the fact that the gods forced me to give up my huntership at least until I finished high school, Aphrodite had seemed especially excited about that, which frightened me slightly. 

Back to the present, I'm standing in front of my new school wearing the uncomfortable uniform, of course with a couple of my adjustments, like the dress pants now ripped at the knees and size too small blazer, along with the combat boots instead of dress shoes and beanie pulled low over my face to try to hide me. Kids rushed up the steps into the building, but I let them go without speaking at all. The building reminded me of an old church, with tall steeples and stained glass windows set into the red bricked building. The sky was an ashen color, the air cold and tense, like the sky was just waiting to break into a storm, probably my fault, I wasn't in the best mood as you could've guessed. 

"Thalia?" a voice interrupted my gloomy thoughts and I whipped around, my hackles rising and my hand was already reaching for my other wrist, ready to turn on my shield when I located the source of the voice. Across the school yard, clumped a small foursome of teenagers. I couldn't help but stare. Why didn't the gods tell me they were sending other demigods to this school? Answer, they're asshats. Across the school yard was Reyna and my baby brother Jason, along with two other demigods I'd never met before, but I assumed were roman. I ran over and greeted Reyna with a (possibly) overly enthusiastic hug, and my brother with a noogie. 

"I didn't know they were sending other demigods here." I said and they looked almost as relieved as I felt that I wasn't going to be the only demigod here.

"Yeah we didn't know until me and Hazel got assigned the same dorm room either." Reyna replied and Jason nodded.

"I didn't even think they would've thought about sending you to a school seeing as you're the attendant of Artemis," Jason muttered and I shook my head ruefully.

"Unfortunately they did think of me, and stripped me of my huntership before sending me here, Cynthia is in charge now," I didn't know why, but I hesitated before adding "Aphrodite didn't seem that disappointed."

Unlike me my Roman friends hadn't made any improvements to their school uniforms, black blazors and slacks, with a green button down and black ties. Jason, and the two demigods that I didn't know looked slightly awkward in their uniforms, like they'd gotten them a size too big. Reyna however was pulling off her uniform quite well, though I imagined it would be hard to find something Reyna didn't look good in. The Roman Preator was looking at me with empathy.

"I know the feeling, the gods decided to put me on suspension from my preatorship while I was still in high school. I realize you probably haven't met our companions before, this is Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto," She introduced me to a shorter girl with large golden eyes and cinnamon hair. Her skin was the color of lightly creamed coffee and she seemed a bit shy. I smiled and gave the girl a nod, "and this is Frank Zhang, son of Mars." I nodded to the boy. He was tall boy made almost purely of muscle, but his face seemed almost scared, the way he smiled at me wasn't frightening or challenging, it was shy. This guy was a bit too sweet for his looks. 

"What class do you guys have first?" asked Jason to the group and we all rustled through our blazers for our schedules. I groaned inwardly, just as I thought. Math.

"Geometry." I grumbled, my eyes glaring at the paper as if i could burn a hole through the paper with my gaze alone.

"Me too," Reyna said, sounding almost as disappointed as I did. I cast a look at the girl, I hadn't been kidding when I said she probably could've pulled off anything. In the cold morning breeze her hair danced lightly, just a few strands escaping her tightly woven black braid and tickling against the side of her face. I stood almost exactly 2 inches taller then her, making her have to incline her head to speak to me ever so slightly, which allowed me to see her eyes ever more clearly. Her eyes were like two pieces of onyx, glinting like a jewel in the dim morning lighting. I could only imagine what they'd look like in the dark, would they glow slightly with their own light like they seemed to, or would they drag in the darkness around them, making them seem like two miniature black holes. I quickly shook myself out of these thoughts. 

What the heck? I never thought of people like that before, oh. I swear to the gods, Aphrodite if this is you messing with me I'm going to punch you in your godly teeth.

"You seem excited," I remarked sarcastically, trying to sound casual as I fought off these strange thoughts I was having. 

"Only as much as you. I suck at math." She said and I couldn't help but let out one of my signature smirks.

"The, basically, Queen of New Rome is bad at math?" I asked and she looked up from her schedule to meet my eyes, I felt an involuntary shiver go up my spine at the look she fixed me with.

"I'll bet I'm still better at it then you," She said calmly and I swallowed hard, to chase down the lump that had been starting to form in my throat.

"Touche." I remarked and she let out a ghost of a smile, which was almost like a laugh from Reyna, so I took it as a good sign. The bell rung and I sighed, the dragging school day was about to begin.

"We'd better get to homeroom," Frank said and shoved his schedule into his pocket, "good luck." he said to the rest of us and we rushed into the building.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Of course me and Jason are in the same homeroom, and if you're wondering,

a) I'm a sophomore, the gods went through and used mist to fill the holes in our education

b) yes I'm 16 now that I'm no longer a hunter and ageing normally.

Anyhow, of course me and Jason are in the same homeroom. Nothing more embarrassing then on your first day of school having the same homeroom as your baby brother. I mean it wasn't like I didn't like Jason, I mean as baby brothers go he's probably one of the least annoying out there, but how am I supposed to explain that my baby brother is actually a couple months older then me, but that's only because I got turned into a tree and then an immortal huntress. Yeah doesn't work out well. I got my answer as we entered the classroom late, and almost immediately our teacher snapped to attention, a stocky man with a bald head and startling blue eyes. 

"Well, I was beginning to worry you two wouldn't show up. Class these are our new students, twins Thalia and Jason Grace." He called. Twins. TWINS. TWINS. Me and Jason are supposed to be twins. In case you hadn't noticed bub, me and Jason look almost nothing alike. Our teacher didn't seem to care anyway. He pointed us to two seats in the back of the classroom. Of course, the old twins can never leave each other's sides for more then two minutes logic. Fantastic, pretty soon I'll get labeled as Mr. Perfect's evil twin. I'm sorry the rest of this is probably going to me complaining about the fact that the gods set me and Jason up as Twins. I'm going to punch a lot of godly faces pretty soon. 

As we sat down I noticed several girls in the class looking over at Jason with interested looks, I chuckled lightly to myself, as the kids chattered quietly with each other, waiting for the bell to ring for first period. Jason leaned over and gave me a very confused looking face.

"Twins?" He asked and I threw my hands up.

"I know right," I said and he smirked slightly,"are they blind? we look nothing alike, plus technically you're a few weeks older then me physically."

"Well, the mist works in mysterious ways." He said and a couple girls started leaning over and drooling over Jason, who just responded to their stupid banter obliviously. Men. 

I leaned back in my chair and sighed, tucking my hands behind my head. I reached into my blazor pocket absentmindedly and began playing with a pen, spinning in quickly around my fingers, always snatching it up before it could fall to the ground, I caught eyes with a girl across the room, she was wearing enough make up for a clown to last 10 years on and had on a uniform so expensive it could've payed off the US debt. She was giving me a death glare, probably trying to see where I'd fit into the social status here, seeing If I'd shrink under her glare or just meet it. I turned up my death glare full throttle, imagining I was pegging her between the eyes with my bow, I could almost imagine my gaze was the razor sharp tip of an arrow, she shrank back into her seat, averting her gaze, and I looked back at my pen, knowing I'd one that battle, but I still had too many to come. Welcome to high school, where they suck the individuality out of you.


	2. I Can Explain

Thalia's POV

I walked into the classroom for first period, I could practically smell my failure. The classroom was unnecessarily bright and colorful so it felt like I walking into a rainbow. The fact that the other kids kept pointing and whispering about me wasn't helping my disoriented behavior. Why are they pointing and whispering Thalia? You ask, well voice that sounds suspiciously like mickey mouse and makes me question my sanity, When I was told that I'd have to go to high school one of my main concerns was I had some scars on my throat and arms that would be hard to explain to my mortal class mates and guidance counselor. So I did what any rational person does, I got them tattooed over so that no one could see them. Unfortunately that probably isn't helping my reputation here, and I've been here for less then 24 hours. 

Anyhow, now that I'm in geometry I have escaped Jason and the endless girls following him around, Mr. Popular in under 10 minutes, I think that's a new record. As I walked into the nearly empty classroom I bumped into Reyna head first, literally. Our head knocked together as I was shoved into the classroom by some over sized jock, now we're both laying on the floor with our heads together, great start Thalia.

"Sorry!" I yelped at my Roman friend, trying to ignore the sudden warmth in my cheeks, I scrambled to my feet and offered her a hand. A couple other kids snickered as they walked past. 

"You seem energetic this morning," She muttered and took my hand and allowing me to pull her up. She rubbed her head, "You've got a hard skull." She complained.

"Thanks?" I said questionably, and she chuckled softly.

"At least it was you and not some random person I'd never met before," She commented and sat down at a desk, I dropped my stuff beside her and sat down. Soon after we'd sat a boy with a crewcut and what appeared to be a nose ring sat next to Reyna, flashing what I think was intended to be a charming smile. His scalp was shiny, as if it were made of plastic, his eyes a dark hazel. Not to be too descriptive, but the guy was dam ugly okay. The fact he started shamelessly flirting with Reyna probably wasn't helping him get higher on my approvement of men chart.

"Hey beautiful, are you the ocean? Because I'm drowning in your eyes," He said and I couldn't help, but snort.

"Hey man, are you a whale, because you're about as dense," Reyna fired back smoothly and a couple of the guy's buddies went "OOOOOH" like they were still a bunch of middle schoolers, fantastic. 

The guy seemed to not get that he'd just been shot down, so he tried again. "I may not go down in history, but I will go down on you," He said, at this point I was silently dying from laughter.

Reyna gave him his death glare and said simply, "If I ever see your face near me again I'll rip your balls off, if you have any." The class exploded and the guy took the hint and slunk off. I gave Reyna a high-five.

"Not bad Roman," I said and she gave me a sideways smirk.

"I'd like to see you do better Grace," She answered as the teacher entered the room, silencing the class. 

"Right, hello class. I see our new students have settled in," She nodded towards me and Reyna, handing us each a text book bigger then my face and smiling sweetly. "I am Mrs. Hendriccks. Class these are our new students, Reyna avila-ramirez Allreno, and Thalia Grace. Thalia actually has a twin brother as I understand it, nice boy." I wanted to melt into a puddle and slowly sank down in my chair. Reyna raised an eyebrow after Mrs. H said I had a twin and made a hand sign to me only demigods would understand.

Jason? she asked and I nodded helplessly.

The mist and jackass gods, I signed back and she nodded.

"Okay class flip to page 125, today we're going to be disgussing angles." 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Reyna and I left the math classroom, each carrying a mountain of papers for homework, which I shoved in my backpack sloppily, and started towards our next class. What was our next class? Well, I'd be glad to tell you, except a boy with messy brown hair and green eyes appeared in our way before we got there. He was flanked by two large guys whom I assumed were either football or basketball players. 

"Well, look what we have here, the new kids." He walked over to Reyna, who was calculating the boy with a cold stare, he didn't seem to notice though. He was too busy staring at her body to notice. Asshole. "We've got a latino beauty," He assessed, and I resisted the urge to punch him, I could see Reyna struggling with the same urge.

"and we've got an idiot." Reyna answered and the boy just chuckled, unaware he was in more danger then our global pollution levels.

"I like em fiesty, but don't worry, I always get the girl." He said, standing uncomfortably close to my roman friend. I had to physically restrain myself from punching this kid. Reyna, just met his gaze, her voice icily calm.

"I suggest you get moving," The guy huffed and moved on to survey me much of the same way he had done to Reyna, and I fixed him with my death glare. He sneered slightly at me.

"Hey fellas look, a junkie. I didn't think this school got those." I lost it at that remark. My arm whipped out, ready to hear the satisfying crunch of his nose under my knuckles, but right before impact someone caught my wrist. I looked over to see Reyna fixing me with her black eyes, sending another invoulantary shiver up my spine.

"Thalia, he isn't worth it." She said, and I suddenly found a lump in my throat preventing me from answering her. I noticed as her hand slipped from my wrist to curling around my fingers and tugging me down the hall away from captain dickface and his dickmen. 

Her hand was softer then I thought it would've been, not that I'd thought about that before, and definitely warmer. Or maybe that was just the fact that I was always cold, but no her hand was very warm and I found my face was staring to feel warm as well.

"Thalia we can't just go around beating up mortals," Reyna chastized me as we rounded a corner into an empty hallway. She pinned me into the wall, and I found my face suddenly felt as if it were on fire and her face was extremely close to mine. Her skin reminded me of warm caramel and as I've mentioned her eyes glittered like two gems. Some of her hair had fallen out of her braid and hung losely around her face so that I could only see her face. I was technically taller then Reyna, but right now It didn't seem like it. In fact I felt shorter. Oh crap she was talking and I have no Idea what she just said.

"I'm sorry, come again?" I stammered out. What the heck is this girl doing to you Thalia, you can barely form a sentence around her.

"I said, you can't just go around beating up mortals, no matter how stupid they are. It's our job to protect them, not hurt them ourselves." She repeated. Our faces were agonizingly close, I could feel her breath on my face and for once I didn't feel cold. her breath smelled mysteriously like hot chocolate, I'd have to ask her about that later.

"Well, sorry miss preator, but what am I supposed to do, let these mortals walk all over me? I am not going to let these people treat me like I'm some kind of dog," I argued and she leaned closer, earning a blush across my face, I felt like I was being backed into a corner. Gods dam it. I hate corners.

"I expect you to restrain yourself enough not to sink to, or below their level. You're better then these mortals Thalia Grace, and I'm not going to let you sink to their level if I can help it." She said like a mother scolding a small child, but surprisingly it had worked on me. This girl better be dam proud, not anyone can talk to me like that and get away with it. Her face was so close to mine now that her nose was touching mine. I could just lean up a couple of centimeters and-hold the fuck up! Am I gay? 

My train of thought was interrupted, by a familiar voice saying, "Are we interrupting something?"

Me and Reyna instantly sprang apart, both of our faces red like we'd taken a bath in ketchup. Jason and Frank stood a few feet away. Jason had a smug look on his face whilst Frank had just turned almost the same color as me and Reyna.

"I-It's not what it looks like!" I stuttered and for the first time ever I think Reyna had been rendered speechless. Jason just started laughing his butt off, I became more and more pissed off by the second. Reyna and I shared a look of different ways we could skin my brother alive when Jason finally stopped laughing.

"Seems your first class had more things happen then ours." He commented, and I restrained myself from kicking him in the shin.

"Shut up already, what class are you guys heading too?" I asked, adjusting my slightly ruffled blazor and tie. Reyna did the same, her face redder then mine, which was slightly cute. 

"Latin," Frank said awkwardly, I appreciated that this kid was at least more thoughtful about what had just happened then Jason had been.

"Us too, come on, before we're late." I said and grabbed Reyna's hand before rushing down the hall, tugging her along with me. Ignoring Jason's constant 'So when did you two start dating' and the occasional 'You two are adorable together' between mine and Reyna's death threats.


	3. I Went to Juvee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thalia has had trouble with annoying teachers.

Thalia POV

I know what you're thinking. Isn't being Roman and taking Latin technically cheating? Yes, but hey, just because we're being forced to go school doesn't mean we have to like it. Also I am Greek, unlike all my friends here so yes I will have to do a little work to get Latin in Latin class, but I'm already better off then most of the mortals, suckers.

As we entered the classroom Jason had finally shut up, which was good or I don't think Reyna would've stopped me from strangling him. Then we saw who was in our class. Captain Dickface himself.

"Well,look who's back, couldn't stay away from me could you ladies,"He said and flexed his muscles. I just laughed, my biceps were bigger then his.

"Sit down Mr. Colton," The teacher growled, I already liked him. He was a tall, relatively young teacher with short black hair and a beard. "Welcome, I am Mr. Hutcherson. You must be the new students." Several of the kids were craning their necks to look at us, staring at us like we were ZOO animals. I bared my teeth and they averted their eyes.

"Wait don't tell me," The Mr. Hutcherson said walking over and surveying our group. He pointed at me, "I'm guessing you're Thalia," he said and turned to Reyna, "which makes you Reyna," he looked at Jason for a second "Jason, and you must be Frank," he said and turned to shake hands with Frank."My brother served with your mother, its an honor to meet her son." Frank looked a bit starstruck, but smiled.

"Well,he's a good guesser," I muttered to Reyna who nodded. Mr. Hutcherson turned to smile at me and Reyna.

"That and this is a small school so news travels fast. I do double duty as the music teacher in the afternoons so I'll see you two again in 6th period." He said, making me raise my eyebrows. This guy seemed a bit too perky to be a teacher, the old demigod senses kicked in,telling me not to trust this man. "Take a seat, we're about to get started." He said happily and we all sat down hesitantly.

~~~~~~

"Thalia,you're hopeless." Reyna exclaimed as I stared hard at the paper we'd been handed. We were supposed to be translating it from English into Latin, but as you probably got I'm not good at this.

"Well It'd be easier if the fricking letters would stop changing, screw dyslexia!" I yelled and threw my paper. Reyna sighed and snatched it out of the air, having already having finished hers, and pinned it down between us.

"Look, it's not that hard, really." She said and I pouted.

"Easy for you to say, you're fluent in Latin," I complained and she rolled her eyes.

"You know if it's so hard you could just translate it to Greek first and then to Latin," she said. I froze, I hadn't thought of that.

"Well,thank you miss smarty pants." I said and she smirked.

"Anytime, delinquent." I rolled my eyes and got to work on that, finding that it was easier, and took half the time.

"Thalia,"she paused, as if wondering what she was about to say was offensive.

"What?"I said and looked up at her through a couple stray locks of hair that had fallen into my face.

"how many schools were you kicked out of?" she asked and I tilted my head and counted.

"Well lets see, 2nd grade I set lose 12 frogs in the classroom because I couldn't stand the thought of them being cooped up. In 3rd grade I got lost on a field trip and robbed 3 men. In 5th grade I accidentally summoned a bolt of lightning to strike my teacher, in 6th grade I was in juvee because they thought I hadn't struck my teacher with lightning, I had tried to shoot him. In 7th grade I ran away and got turned into a tree," I said as if I was reciting a definition from the dictionary. Like none of that was strange or worrying. The look Reyna gave me was priceless though.

"You did what?" she asked and I cracked up laughing. "You struck a teacher with lightning in the 5th grade?!" she whisper yelled and I lost it.

"Would you believe me if that wasn't the first time that had happened? The first time it was an accident," I said between laughs only to see her shaking her head.

"Now I get why Jason was the Roman one," She muttered and I shrugged helplessly.

"Not my fault, honestly I didn't even know I could, and when I figured out I could I didn't know how to control it." I said and she just shook her head. I finished them paper right as the bell rang to signal the end of 2nd period. Now my next period was by myself so usually I'd skip it, if captain dickface didn't intercept me right before I got into the classroom

"What do you want?" I growled and the guy got his face very close to mine. The only reason I wasn't punching him was because of what Reyna had said earlier.

"Oh I was just wondering, if you and all the new kids are new, how come you all know each other." He said and I narrowed my eyes. He knew something.

"Jason's my brother and those are his friends. They went to the same military school," I lied and he leaned in close again, I tried not to gag.

"Is that so, I didn't know they let military brats get tats," he snarled and I gave him a death glare.

"You better back off, I don't want to hurt you, but Reyna isn't here to stop me this time," He just laughed and grabbed my wrist.

"Go ahead, hit me. I bet it'll feel like getting hit by a cotton ball,"he said and I balled my fists. I bit my lip and took a couple deep breaths.

"I wont give you that satisfaction," I growled deeply and he grinned evilly.

"Chickenshit. I'll bet you're just scared that I'd hurt you, and you're right. I'm going to hurt you anyway grace. I'm going to find your weakness and I'm going to use it to destroy you. You wanna know why?My mom's the goddess of revenge, and we always get revenge for why others have done to us. My brother died because of you and your friends, you're going to feel my wrath. Watch your back grace."With that he spun and disappeared into the classroom, leaving me to stare after him. There was another demigod here, and he was after my head.

__________________________________________________________________

Lunch.Glorious lunch. Finally an excuse to escape this horrible reality and tell my friends about the crazy guy with a bounty on my head. I sat down at a table across from Reyna, who was already seated and had her nose in a paper with curiosity evident on her face. Part of me didn't want to disturb her. She had let her hair out of the braid so now it hung around her face like a curtain, giving me the strange urge to touch it. The way she stared at the paper, as if the entire world had ceased to exist and she was so focused on it that I was pretty sure I could steal her fries without her noticing. Overall it was kinda cute.

Yes, that was another problem beside Mr. Crazy. Was I gay? I didn't think so. I'd never had a crush on a girl before. I hadn't really had a crush on anyone before now though, well unless you count Luke. I'd have to figure out that later though. Most likely it was what Aphrodite had been so excited about when the gods had stripped me of my huntership. oh well, back to Mr. Crazy.

"Hey,"I said and Reyna looked up, startle slightly. I pointed at her fries on her tray, "you going to eat that?" I asked and she looked like I'd just pulled her out of the dream. She turned the paper, I saw now she hadn't been reading it or doing homework, she had been drawing, who knew the Roman praetor liked to doodle on stuff.

"N-No,sorry I got distracted. How was your third period?" she asked and handed me the fries.

"The class itself was fine. World history, blah blah blah, I already knew most of it anyway. You remember captain dickface from this morning right?" I asked as Jason and Frank waled over to join us.

"The one who kept hitting on me, or the one you tried to punch?" She asked, her eyes now completely focused on me, it was brilliant how she did that. Focusing on things like a camera, almost impossible to break her focus-I need to stop this.

"The one I tried to punch. Turns out he's a son of Nemesis. He said he was going to get his revenge on me because, quote," I made quotation marks with my hands and spoke in an overly exaggerated deep voice"'My brother died because of you and your friends, you're going to feel my wrath.'"

Reyna pursed her lips and knit her eyebrows like she does when she's thinking, "What did you do to a child of nemesis, assuming you know what he's talking about?" She asked.

"He'stalking about Ethan Nakamora. He was a demigod who served Kronos in the second titan war. I personally did nothing to him. I was trapped under a statue of Hera for the whole final face off with Kronos, but as I understand it Ethan turned on Kronos in the end. He tried to stab him, but the blade shattered and part of it hit Ethan. Kronos sent him falling to earth where he died on impact." I said and Reyna just frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"A statue of Hera?" she asked and I shrugged.

"Just because she likes Jason doesn't mean she likes me, In fact she hates me, more then she hates Annabeth," I muttered ans she sighed.

"So we've got a crazy revenge demigod after your head," She summed up and I nodded. "lovely."

"What?"Jason asked as him and Frank sat beside us, Hazel a little behind because she was in the freshman class. I summed up the situation to them three just as captain Dickface appeared behind me.

"Speak of the devil," grumbled Reyna and I spun to glare at him, but this time it didn't seem he was over here for me. He, instead, was glaring at Jason.

"Jason,you think you can just waltz into this school and steal my girlfriend?" he snarled and Jason looked at him like 'wat' just before captain dickface grabbed a bowl of mashed potatoes and pied Jason in the face with it, "take that pretty boy!" he yelled and I was on him in a second. I shoved him back into the isle where he slipped on a ketchup packet and landed on his butt.

"Lay another hand on my brother and I'll rip your throat out," I growled and he stumbled to his feet, his eyes like two pits of anger.

"Oh so there are two of you now huh? Well, just because your daddy is big and important doesn't mean he can protect you. You're going to get it grace, both of you are." he snarled and I grabbed a plastic fork, spinning it like it was a knife in my hand.

"Make one move, I dare you. You'll find a fork in the place the sun don't shine," We had caught the attention of the whole school by now.A couple of teacher were tensed, readying themselves if a fight broke out. Reyna stood and grabbed my hand holding the fork.

"Thalia, even if he's a demigod we can't get into fights. You're the daughter of Zeus, even though these mortals don't know that they can feel the pull to look up to you like a leader. If you get into a fight,everyone here will start to think that's appropriate behavior,"she hissed in my ear and I gave her a sideways glare.

"I don't care," I said and captain dickface snarled at me.

"You and your girlfriend can argue later! Point is it's an empty threat!"I felt my face flush and I could see Reyna turning pink faced as well. I dropped the fork and grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt. Reyna moved to stop me again, but I had control of myself this time.

"I can make your life a living hell, if you don't back off and leave me and my friends alone. Get out of my face, I'm not going to fight you,because that is beneath me, but I will not hesitate to defend myself if you attack me." with that I let him go and returned to myseat. The lunchroom started whispering quietly about my group of friends, trying to classify our group and trying to understand what just happened.

"Good job Thalia," Reyna stammered, her face still a bit red from his comment, but I decided to let it go. It wasn't like she knew that I was just beginning to understand that I had a massive crush on her. I finished my food and stood to throw away my stuff, not speaking to anyone or responding to the dozens of other students walking over to ask questions about what happened. I didn't notice Reyna looking after me a bit worriedly or the picture she had been working on had fallen to the floor, now face up. I didn't see that it was a drawing of me.


	4. I'm a Loser Who Cries too Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thalia has a lot of angst and built up anger.

Thalia POV

I left the cafeteria and started to my locker to get my stuff for my next class, wanting desperately to avoid having to talk to someone about what had just happened, but even more wanting to get my thoughts straight. I rounded a corner in the hall way and hid behind a banister in a small alcove no one could see. I then proceeded to sink to a sitting position and try not to scream in frustration.

I hated school, I hated feelings, I hated Nemesis, and I hated Aphrodite. I even hated my fucking self okay. None of this shit would've happened if Zeus could've just kept it in his pants. Then I never would've been born and none of this shit would've happened. I hated that Aphrodite was just playing with my emotions now. I knew that, I had learned to sense and reject these Aphrodite messing with me moments when I was a hunter. But I wasn't a hunter anymore, I was a weak teenage girl with hormones, emotions, and the self loathing that always felt like it was going to devour me.

I felt like I was trapped on the edge of a cliff with only one way down. My head was spinning, my throat hurt, and I felt like I was going to throw up. Maybe I should get up and go to the school nurse, call it a day and go back to my dorm, but no, I'm not going to give captain dickface the satisfaction that he had unraveled my armor I'd built up over the years.

In truth It wasn't really him, It was several things all built up together that had finally torn me down. It all started when the gods had taken away my huntership, it felt like I had just been stripped of everything I was. I felt weak suddenly, exhausted, dizzy, and like I'd been shot in the stomach. I could barely stand after that, a part of me had just been stolen. Then Aphrodite, that sick twisted motherfucker had been planning shit from that moment. I was weak, I no longer had Artemis's protection and Aphrodite had a plan concocted the moment I was able to be snatched back up into her claws. She was already playing with my emotions towards Reyna, probably planning something worse in the future, unfortunately I do not have the power to reject her powers, hence the fact that I am acknowledging that she must've got me with cupid's arrow.

If that wasn't enough, ever since Jason had gotten back from his quest I've been haunted by the ghost of my mother. She appears whenever I act over protective towards a friend or, especially towards Jason. She's always there, breathing down my neck and reminding me I could always turn into her if I make one wrong move.

Then captain dickface showed up and delivered the final blow, by reminding me of a boy I might've loved and had betrayed me. Luke Castellen. He mentioned Ethan, and Ethan led to the final showdown, where I never got to see that moment of clarity Luke had right before he died. I never got to ask him if he was sorry, and I never forgave him I'm surprised his ghost isn't with my mothers, he isn't haunting me. Maybe he's just to guilty to see me. 

I didn't notice that I was crying until I heard a voice calling my name. I looked up to see Reyna. I knew exactly what the love goddess was doing, coming at me with these emotions right when I was at a vulnerable moment, I couldn't let her win that easily.

"Go away, I'm fine," I growled at her, harsher then I had intended and wiped away the tears and pushed myself up, I tried to escape before she could force me to talking about anything, but she was fast. She grabbed me by the shoulders and pinned me against the wall again, her eyes were worried, and curious, as if she were looking at an injured bird.

"You aren't fine, if it's enough to make you cry it's got to be serious," She said and I tried to turn my face away from hers, so that I wouldn't have to stare into those eyes like a starry night sky and force myself not to memorize the way they sparkled. So I wouldn't have to force myself not to stare at her lips and not imagine how'd they feel against mine. So I wouldn't have to pretend I didn't see the way her eyebrows twitched and her eyes fluttered when they blinked. I didn't count the number of freckles that were scattered across her face like small dog prints. So I wouldn't have to admit that I was fighting the love goddess and losing miserablly. 

"Reyna, I just got something in my eye, don't worry about it." I muttered and she just gave me a look like 'seriously?'

"Thalia, I'm here for you, why wont you talk to me?" she asked and I simply answered.

"Because I don't talk to anyone. Because these are my problems not yours and you shouldn't have to carry the problems of a girl who should be dead!" My voice was louder and angrier then I intended, and my voice seemed to have gotten it's own will and had spoken without my consent. The bell rang, signaling our next class, but when I tried to escape Reyna she just pressed me against he wall harder, reminding me painstakingly of when we'd met. 

"Never say that," she growled, her eyes now blazing like the pits of Tarturus. She leaned her head close to mine, not seeming to care about the last people running by to get to their classes on time. "Never say that you should be dead Thalia Grace. You have done so many great things and saved so many people in both of the wars. You've saved us all. Never, ever, let me hear you say anything along those lines again grace." I felt like I was being crushed under a lead weight.

"See, I keep messing up! First I get kicked out the hunters and practically stripped of my identity, then dickhead reminds me of the stupid idiot who's the reason I died in the first place, then my mom decided to haunt me for all eternity. Now I've even made you mad at me, I keep messing up, this is all my fault and I'm fucking worthless!" I found myself yelling at the dark eyed roman. She gave me one of those looks that made me feel like she was about to punch me, but then pulled me into a fierce embrace.

"Never think you're worthless Thalia. I owe you my life, and if I have to pay that back by making sure yours doesn't end then so be it, look I know that isn't all that's bothering you, but I want you to know you can talk to me whenever. I'm here for you Thalia, even if no one else is," Her embrace was surprisingly really warm and her heart was beating hard against her chest. I found myself helpless to the hug and I melted into my Roman friend. Don't get confused, I know what's happening here. I know that Aphrodite is messing with me, but I also know that maybe, just maybe, that isn't all so bad after all.


	5. Music Class and Ghost Mommies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flirting, and visitors from the past. WARNING: ANGST

Thalia's POV

After the little scene, and a really boring physics class I was on my way back to Mr. Hutcherson's classroom for music when a certain demigod crossed my path. I sighed.

"What now?" I yelled and Dickface Mccool, he now had two of his tall muscular friends with him. He smiled what I think was supposed to be threateningly at me.

"Simple, you threatened me in front of the whole school, now you're going to pay." I checked my watch, I didn't have time for this. His friends closed in around me, so I just whacked one out of the way into the wall, kicked dickface in the nuts, and walked to class, Reyna glared at me slightly when I entered the classroom.

"I thought we agreed not to hit the mortals," she said and I sighed.

"I was going to be late, and being shoved into a locker isn't high on my bucket list," I said and sat on the table next to her. Reyna sighed and face palmed. 

I laughed softly and she muttered, "You're going to be the death of me."

"Alright class, sit down," Mr. Hutcherson called and I slipped down into my seat. He smiled at the class brightly, "Today we will be starting our partner project with the Juniors, but before we do anything else, I have assigned each of you a person. Your project is to write two songs. One about you, and one about the person I've assigned you. Please do not tell the person you've been assigned to that you have, you'll find it's more awkward when that happens." He started passing out note books and handing students each a paper with the person they'd been assigned on it. "You may work with your partner at your desk on either of the songs. Good luck."

Mr. H handed me mine and, surprise surprise, it was Reyna. I rolled my eyes half heartedly. Either he didn't think I knew anyone else well enough, or Aphrodite was messing with me again. Probably the latter, but I can at least pretend that there isn't a crazy love goddess controlling my emotions, and that this is completely done of my free will. 

"You're probably going to have to help me write a song about myself," I commented Reyna a humoresque look, "I'm not exactly what you call easy to describe."

The look that Reyna gave me made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.Her eyes seemed to darken, becoming inky pits of humor that made my face flush. Her lips curled into a smirk that made my classic evil grin look like a sad smile. She leaned her face close to mine and I felt like I was being roasted alive. Why do I keep digging myself into these holes?

"I actually think It would be rather easy to sum you up. One word," Our faces now so close I could see every little highlight and color and streak in her eyes. Her breath still smelled of hot cocoa and I felt like my brain was melt out of my ears.

"O-One wo-ord..." I stuttered out and inwardly face palmed, playing it really cool Thalia. 

"Yeah," she said breathily, making me shiver. She smiled. "Gay." She said and shoved me out of the chair, laughing like a five-year old. I sat on the ground glaring up at her. I really am just one big, lovesick, nerd.

"Fuck you," I grumbled and she just laughed. She was beautiful when she did that. Her eyes sparkled like the night sky, and her face broke into the biggest grin I'd ever seen. I was often quite sad that she was so good at controlling her emotions, because her smile was way too pretty to be hiding from the world. Her cheeks were very round, cute even, and we've established I am Reyna trash number 1.

"C'mon nerd, get up I'll help you with your project, as long as you help me with mine." I pulled myself up and sat back in my chair.

"Fine, but no more shoving me out of chairs," I grumbled, and just to be mean she shoved me out of my chair again. "Seriously?!" I yelled. Strangely no one in the class made to stop her, or told us to be quiet, as if this was a normal occurrence. Who knew maybe it was, it had been at least 8-ish years since I'd been in school.

"I'm sorry, but you tempted me that time," She said after she'd caught her breath from laughing. I just shoved her out of her chair. She glared up at me from the floor. 

"Alright, that's enough we need to get to work," She said and got back in her seat, me chuckling softly beside her.

__________________________________________________________________________

"FINALLY!" I exclaimed as we exited the school. Reyna chuckled softly beside me, her hair pulled back in a braid again, giving her that shy, school-girl look. 

"You realize we have about a pound of homework to do right?" Jason asked from behind me and I pouted.

"Thanks captain buzzkill, I'd forgotten," I grumbled and Reyna, Jason, Frank, and Hazel all laughed. Then the allusion of peace and just a normal teenage life with no monsters to worry about killing us was shattered. In front of me stood the familiar face I had spent so long trying to forget. My mother. I shivered involuntarily as my friends walked by her ghost, unknowingly, oblivious to the horror that I saw so very clearly. 

My mom looked a lot like Jason really, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her nose was the same one he had and she also had the same look of confidence. Maybe that's why she never liked me, I looked too much like my father. 

"Thalia, you coming?" Reyna called, now well ahead of me, I realized I had stopped dead center of the walkway. I took a deep breath, and stared down the ghost of my mother. A woman who had never really cared for me, a woman I had tried my whole life to make proud and was always just disappointed. A women whop only loved me as much as her next bottle of wine. I would not be scared of some childish dream that I've been holding onto when she died, that she was sorry. Her eyes were cold, dead, she wouldn't love me, ever, not even when she died. I would not mourn the death of someone who never cared.

"Yeah, sorry, lost my train of thought," I replied and walked through the ghost of my mother, the apparition dissolving like alcohol. Reyna looked skeptic, but seemed to buy it.

"Alright, but be careful, there's so many people here you'd be easy to lose in all the crowds," she said, which was true, but still didn't prepare me from her grabbing my hand. I suddenly felt like I was really sweaty and gross, my heart jumped in my chest, and I swallowed down a rush of warmth toward my face. I was not going to blush after a simple gesture. No. Screw you emotions.

"Let's go!" she said and dragged me up to rejoin the group.

"So I was just asking Jason and Hazel if they wanted to go down into town and get a snack," Frank said when we caught up. "You guys want to come too?" he asked, giving us a sweet smile that rivaled Percy's puppy-dog eyes.

"Sure," Reyna said and looked at me, "Thalia?" she asked and I gave her my evil grin.

"You bet," I said and Jason grinned, probably proud that he got his best friend and sister to get along.

As we were heading down to catch a bus into town she caught my eye again. My mother, this time her ghost stood well out of the way, watching me silently. Her eyes glared at me, silently judging me. I could see her jaw clench the way it always had when she was getting prepared to yell at me. I instinctively hid behind the closest object, which just happened to be Jason. My brother gave me a concerned look.

"Thalia? You okay?" He asked and I swallowed the fear bubbling up in my chest. What am I doing? I am Thalia freaking Grace. i'm not afraid of Atlas, the giants, gods, titans, or Gaia. I have faced some of the craziest, most fearsome creatures on the planet, but this. My mother. She's a whole different level of scary. She has terrified me since I could remember, the impressionable mind of a child never forgets what it fears. Never forgets the fear that paralyzed you, that caused you to hide in the closet when you were 10, the body of your 6 month old brother hidden behind you, so that if your fear found you, she would beat you and not touch him. Your mind never forgets that, and It will instinctively tell you to grab all you love and hide it behind you, so that you'll get the beating, and wont touch them. 

Jason is taller and older then me, along with fully capable of taking care of himself. But now, with that gods awful ghost around every corner I want to hide him in the back of a closet again. I want to do that to all of my friends who are perfectly capable of overpowering a weak 36 year old woman. I can't do that though. I can't hide them from her, because they don't know about her, except Reyna who thinks its probably just some nightmare, not a mania breathing down my neck all of the time.

"I'm fine, though I just saw Captain Dickface," I said and he nodded understandingly. Reyna didn't look so convinced, and now hung back from the group to check on me.

"Are you sure you're okay? Your face is really pale," she asked me and I took a steadying breath. I had to keep my nerves calm, I can't panic, I can't let my emotions get control of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I just think all this school stuff is making me nervous, I just need to cool down." The look Reyna gave me was one that would've made me feel nervous if I wasn't already. 

"I'm not buying it, remember Thalia, you can talk to me. It doesn't matter about what," her eyes looked concerned, and I felt the notes in her voice so full of that very thing that I felt like I was slowly being melted from the inside out. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to spill every little thing about my mother's ghost, but I couldn't. I couldn't because she'd think I was either going crazy or that I was being hunted. Probably the first one, but she couldn't really understand what it was like to have a spirit of anger and discord following you around constantly trying to get you to go crazy or slip up. My mother's spirit only wanted me to end up like her, and that only made me fear my entire existence.

"I know, but some things are not meant to be share," I said hoarsely, Reyna only gave me a concerned look as I attempted not to fall over, as mother dearest appeared right infront of me and scaring the living daylights out of me. I managed to hide the sudden fear on my face into me almost tripping over someone's deposited hoodie, but holy shit that was close. Reyna caught me, her eyes concerned, almost deeply worried now. I felt my face turn a bright shade of pink, and suddenly the ghost seemed to cease to exist.

"Thalia, I saw the fear on your face," Reyna said and I was to flustered to deny it this time. "Thalia, I'm trying to help you, and in order for that to work you need to tell me what's wrong." Her eyes were serious, and not in the cold, stern way she had reserved for Roman council meetings, or just meetings in general. In a warm, I care about you, and you better tell me whats going on, kind of way. Swallowing down my embarrassment, and the fact she was dipping me like we had just finished a waltz, I started my story about my mother, and as I spoke, I could feel the ghost's breath against the back of my neck.

'Get ready, my child, for something is stirring, and I will be there. Watching, to see of you make the right choice' The ghost of my mother said, and my body shivered involuntarily.


	6. Foreshadowing Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coffee shops, convicted fellons, and roommates

Thalia's POV

The bus ride to the town was mostly uneventful. I mean there was the occasional thing, like Jason falling out of his seat and on top of some dude with a buzzcut, or when Frank and Hazel accidentally smacked their heads together when the bus rounded the corner. My personal favorite was when the bus stopped at a red light and a guy in the car next to the bus started to try to flirt with me. I glared at him, but was surprised when Reyna leaned over me to give him the finger. 

I'll admit that Reyna was a much better friend then I originally thought she would've been. Back at the school she was more then understanding about my ghostly mother following me around, almost as if she knew about that kind of stuff. She seemed almost protective of me, which even as someone who likes to take care of herself I can appreciate.

Anyways we reached the town in one piece and we quickly sniffed out the closest coffee shop. I noticed that I'd told Reyna about my ghost problem she seemed even more protective over me then usual, watching to see if I would jump back in terror or duck behind the nearest lamp post, who knows I probably would have if my mother's ghost hadn't left. She was gone, at least for now, and wouldn't be back until I least expected it, that's how she worked, she disappeared and came back when I wasn't looking. I sat down in one of the chairs at the coffee shop we had found and before I could even comment on anything a waitress was hurrying over to our table.

The waitress looked about our age with bright red hair and striking blue eyes. "Hi I'm Skye and I'll be your server today, what can I get you all to start off with," We went around the table and ordered, everyone except Reyna and me got coffee. I just don't like coffee and thanks to the hunters had developed a taste for herbal tea, while Reyna as I had deducted from her breath constantly smelling like it, loved Hot Cocoa. The teenager went to go put our orders in and I sighed and leaned back in my chair. 

"You okay?" Reyna asked and I nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I just realized that I've only got a couple hours before I have to deal with my room mate," I muttered and she rose an eyebrow.

"Who's your room mate?" She asked.

"A girl named Carma, she's too... bubbly," I said recalling the unpleasant experience yesterday.

I was carrying my stuff into my room, one special suitcase that was enchanted to fit all of my stuff into effortlessly, another reason I loved the hunters, when a voice suddenly yelled at me from beyond my field of vision.

"HI!" I screamed in terror and threw my bag towards the closest object. I spun around expecting to see some monster getting ready to eat me. Instead I found myself eye to eye with some girl with green eyes. I screamed louder and jumped behind the bed. 

Laughter erupted from the girl, a short brunette with bright green eyes. "Oh my god, I didn't mean to scare you," she said raising her hands in surrender. I already didn't like her. I had my body buried neck deep in clothes now, thanks to me throwing my bag and It exploding. I threw one of my bras at her.

"Never sneak up on people like that!" I complained and she just laughed.

Back to the present: I did not like my room mate, she was loud, messy, sneaky, and kept preaching to me when I was doing stuff. Like I would be repacking my bag neatly so that I didn't lose anything, next thing I knew I could hear her across the room screaming about how 'beautiful of a man _____ is' I don't know who she was talking about, how was I supposed to keep up with modern celebrities. As I explained this to Reyna I saw Hazel leaning over to join the conversation.

"You know we could just switch room mates," She suggested and Reyna and I both gave her a weird look.

"What do you mean?" I asked and Hazel smiled innocently.

"Well you don't like your room mate, and I think you and Reyna get along pretty well any way. So I'll take your weird room mate and you can room with Reyna," She said and took a sip from her cup. I pondered that, well I would be mortally embarrassed for like ever, but lets look at the pros. I get rid of bubbly modern girl and I get to share a room with the girl I have resigned myself to admit I was crushing on. (Also how could I pass up the prospect of seeing her {This part has been removed due to Thalia's dirty, dirty mind})

"Reyna?" Hazel asked and She shrugged. 

"Whatever makes you happy," she said to me and I pretended to sneeze into my sleeve to hide a blush that I was pretty sure was about to cover my cheeks.

"Well, that problem is solved, another thing though, lets talk about Captain Dickface for second." She said using my nickname for the guy who seemed to hate my guts. "Why is he following us around?" she asked and pointed behind me. I turned to see him, across the coffee shop glaring at our group, subconsciously I gripped the table knife.

"That's probably not a good sign," I muttered and Reyna nodded in agreement. 

"Whatever it is he wants now, he must really desperate, he's probably waiting to get you alone so he cant surround you and jump you. I'm not saying you can't handle him, but he's got three friends that out size you, and I don't think they're mortal," She growled to me and I gave her a slight glare.

"Yeah, but I have lightning," I argued and she gave me a look like a mom chastising an annoying child.

"Just if you go anywhere, take me with you, I don't want you to get hurt because he uses some kind of enchantment on you," I rose an eyebrow and she pointed at a tall friend of Dickface's. "That's Omar, son of Hecate, he was kicked out of the legion for murdering 5 officers with his mind. He's good, too good, I know you're a good fighter, I've seen it. But the power he possesses could kill you in a fraction of a second, I don't want to lose you within a day of actually becoming your friend." 

I swallowed nervously, okay so I'm not dealing with a group of D-list demigods, I'm dealing with a group of convicted criminals who, given the chance, will kill me.

"Any others you know that you'd like to inform me to stay away from?" I asked and took a sip of my tea. It tasted oddly metallic, ugh this place must have a really bad dishwasher or something.

"You see that one with the beard," She said and pointed out one of the guys, I nodded, "That's Garret Hendrix, he got kicked out after strangling 2 senate members, and the blonde boy beside him Is Derrick, he was a poison expert, except he used his poisons to try to kill everyone in his way of becoming Praetor. He actually almost got me too. Poisoned my cup and I ended up in the infirmary for a month," She grumbled and I winced internally. 

"Okay, you Romans have some really messed up criminals," I said and she sneered. 

"Well that's probably because we monitor our demigods differently then you Greeks, ours go on for generations and You guys scatter outward. I'm pretty sure some of your demigods have killed each other before," She sounded slightly bitter, I probably accidentally prodded a weak spot, good job Thalia. I bit my lip, before sighing.

"You're joking. Didn't Annabeth tell you that the whole Titan war happened because my old boyfriend went crazy," I said jokingly in an attempt to take back any damage I might've done, but only received an odd look from Reyna.

"Your old boyfriend did what?" she asked and I laughed.

"His name was Luke Castellen, he was a Son of Hermes, Mercury for you Romans. Anyway We met when He was 14 going on 15 and I was 13 going on 14. We were both demigods on the run from monsters, we didn't know that a camp existed, all we knew was we were the children of bastard gods who were stuck trying to live on our own. Naturally we teamed up so that we wouldn't be so alone while trying to figure stuff out. Then we found Annabeth. She was 7 at the time, and for a while everything was good. It was like the family we'd never had. Me and Luke as the parents and little Annabeth as our kind of daughter. It was good for a couple months, probably the best months of my life, then It happened. We ran into a monster and I hurt my leg pretty bad so Luke took us to the only place he knew of that was safe. His mother's house. Hermes was visiting at the time. We managed to replenish our supplies and get out before anything bad happened, but Luke was different after that. Angrier, more violent. We found Grover and tried to get to camp. I died on the hill and got turned into a tree, the rest is Percy's story." I explained best I could. Reyna just gave me an odd look before bursting out laughing.

"Yeah and we have the convicted criminals," she said and gave me a winning smile, which I couldn't help but return, taking another gulp of my tea. "you have one messed up sense of humor Grace," she said and I smiled.

"One that we share Praetor," I answered and she smiled. I felt a weird prickling sensation on the back of my neck and took a deep breath, already knowing what would be there if I turned around. I just finished my tea, I wasn't going to turn around and look at her. Not again, not in front of a guy bent on trying to kill me. No. 

"We should get going soon," I said to Reyna. "I've got a mile of homework to do and have to switch rooms," Reyna nodded. 

"Good call." She handed Jason a couple of dollars to pay for our drinks before getting up. Slowly, steeling, I turned around to find myself face to face with the ghost of my mother. I swallowed hard and quietly walked around it to join Reyna, not noticing the group of guys who wanted to kill me laughing and blonde boy derrick holding a mug of tea.


	7. Poison and Annoying Sun Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thalia is poisoned, and Reyna is a terrible medic

Thalia's POV

Walking towards the bus stop I got my first indication something was wrong.

"Ugh, shit," I grumbled and held my hand to my forehead which had just started pounding.

"What's up?" Reyna asked and slowed her pace to keep up with me.

"Just a headache, don't worry about it. So how did the gods do it to you? I mean Artemis came to get me, but how did you find out about the school thing?" I asked and tried to ignore my head that felt like an over inflated balloon.

"Well, mine was in a dream so not quite as eventful as yours I imagine," she said smoothly and tugged the knot out of her tie, unbuttoning the top button of her uniform and taking a deep breath, "This is why I wear togas, this has been strangling me all day," she complained and I laughed.

"You get used to it," I said and looked at her tie, which looked slightly dented from the knot she had yanked out of it. "Also, don't tie it so tight next time,"

"Well these things confuse me." She muttered simply and we reached the bus stop. I sat on the bus bench and put my hands in my pockets, watching my breath rise into the cool autumn air. Reyna sat next to me and pulled out a coin, playing with it absentmindedly. I looked at it and frowned. The coin was silver with a picture of Athena on the front, Greek writing over it.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked and she looked down at it.

"Annabeth gave it to me after we had a run in during the war. After they had gotten out of tarturus," She said and looked at the coin fondly. She pressed the cold metal into my fingers. "She said it was a symbol that things could change. That Romans and Greeks could work together." I looked at the coin, gently spinning it in my fingers.

"Well, we know that's true now. We're better then we ever were on our own. I mean you guys have had magical boarders for thousands of year, I had to die to get the boarders for our camp," Yeah I'm still not over that. I suddenly felt a hot prickle on the back of my neck and forced myself not to scream. I handed Reyna back her coin and whipped around to face my mother's ghost, inches from my face. A sound like a strangled cat made its way through my throat and suddenly I felt Reyna grab my shoulder.

"What is it? What's wrong?" she asked me and I couldn't make my throat to work. My mother smiled gruesomely and took a step forward, passing through the bench so that she stood almost directly above me. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and mumbled words to myself. Words I could barely hear over the ringing.

"It's just a ghost, a stupid mania I can't get rid of, pull yourself together." I suddenly felt the icy touch of a ghost's fingers on my chin, tilting my head up to face her. That's impossible she can't touch me, she's a ghost.

"Thalia, what's going on?" Reyna asked, but she sounded far away. My mother leaned her face down close to mine.

"Thalia, as you have a thing of death in your bloodstream I'm free to do with you as I please, and I do please." She said and suddenly flicked her hand across my face. I yelled as the sting of ice cold skin met my flesh. I fell backward onto the pavement. Reyna grabbed my wrist and pulled me up.

"Thalia, listen to me, its your mother isn't it. She isn't real, its just a mania." She said, my mother seemed to disagree. She grabbed me by the throat and tossed me into the ground again, now she struck me across the face again. All my childhood memories of being hit and smacked filling my head. I was paralyzed, unable to move as again and again I was hit across the face. I could feel blood on my lips and my left eye was swollen shut. I was hyperventilating and felt like I was being roasted alive. What the hell was going on?

Reyna's POV

I stood motionless and helpless as Thalia repeatedly jerked her head to the side like she was being hit. Her face was swollen in such a way that gave resemblance to a rotting apple, and blood was curling from her nose which was now at a crooked angle. What the actual hell am I supposed to do?! How can I fight something that I can neither see, not touch? How can I protect her from something that seems to only be able to effect her. I grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards me. She groaned slightly, tears running down her face, her skin felt unnaturally hot. I pulled her close as an invisible force tried to tug her away from me. There isn't a way in hell I'm letting her get killed by some kind of mania. I've killed them before, I'll do it again. I pulled out my dagger and brandished it in front of me and Thalia, who seemed to have lost control of her limbs as she hung limp in my arms.

"Back off wherever you are, or I swear to the gods I'll gut you like a fish," I muttered under my breath. Thalia shivered and coughed softly, her skin was unbearably hot now. I looked down at her, the invisible force had disappeared. I gently lifted her upright and her eye that wasn't black fluttered slightly. She looked at me and tried to grin, but instead almost vomited. I knit my eyebrows, then remembered she had made an odd face while drinking her tea back at the Coffee shop. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

I lifted her upright and carried her bridal style. A raspy voice suddenly entered my ear and I froze, my hair prickling up on the back of my neck. "She has a dead thing in her bloodstream , as long as she does she is mine, daughter of Bellona. You can't save her." I whipped around with my dagger extended.

"Fucking watch me!" I snarled at, nothing. Empty air was behind me. Thalia shivered again and Slowly I lowered my dagger. I started toward the school building. I didn't care if I had to walk 20 miles, I wasn't going to let Thalia die. Not here, not now, not ever.

____________________________________________________________________

I rushed into my dorm room, Thalia had long since passed out in my arms. She looked like... death. I swallowed hard and poured half a canteen of nectar down her throat, some color returned to her face. Her breathing evened slightly, but she was still unconscious, and I had only delayed the process. 

I didn't know what to do, my brain was frozen. Pause, compose. Okay Reyna what just happened? Well me and Thalia were getting ready to go back to the dorms when Thalia unknowingly drank a poison. The poison somehow made it possible for her mother's mania to attack her, and now she has a high fever, trouble breathing, a slow heart beat, and is paler then she usually is. I breathed hard and slowly calmed my nerves. Okay, okay, first I need to call a medic. I reached into Thalia's pocket and pulled out a couple drachamas. I turned on the sink to hot and tossed the coin into the misty rainbow. 'O Iris the goddess of rainbows show me Will Solace" I chanted and up popped a boy with bright blonde haired boy with freckles. He sat in what looked like a Hades cabin bunk with Nico resting near by.

"Hey Reyna, what's up?" Will said cheerfully, making Nico look up. 

"No time to explain this is an emergency!" I yelled and moved aside so he could see Thalia.

"Holy Hades!" Nico exclaimed and crawled over. "I sense this has some-"

"Can it!" I interrupted and walked over to Thalia to prop her up against the bed's head board. She groaned weakly and muttered some kind of gibberish. Will's expression had changed from laid back to serious in a matter of seconds.

"What did happen?" he asked and I threw my hands up.

"She was poisoned, I don't know what kind, but it's bad. Her fever is getting worse and she is hyperventilating, on top of that she looks like she just got dropped into a bag of flour." I growled, my mind was all over the place at this moment. Will chewed his lip.

"How long was it till she started showing symptoms?" He asked. I thought for a moment.

"I don't know, 10, 20 minutes," I said and In response Will sighed.

"Well Reyna, I can't do much with that info-"

"She said she had a head ache, and then something told me there was a dead thing in her blood stream," I interrupted, I wasn't interested in it possibly not being able to do anything. Will's eyes lit up.

"It's water from the river Styx. If you want to get rid of it you need to flush out her bloodstream. I can't believe I'm actually about to say this, but it might be your only option." He said, not looking happy about this possible cure. He almost looked afraid, and nervous.

"Spit it out!" I ordered, I could feel Thalia's pulse dropping in between my fingers.

"Alright, this might sound crazy, but you need to neutralize the water in her blood stream. The only way is to kill it, and uh.. in order to uh..." Will looked down and Nico rolled his eyes.

"You need to get her drunk. The alcohol will kill it." Nico spelled out for me I just stared at them for about five seconds.

"You want me to get a sick, poisoned person drunk. A sick, poisoned, Thalia drunk? You realize I'm going to have to deal with her when she's having a hang over." I said and Will shrugged helplessly. 

"If you want her to live," I sighed and threw up my hands, "Fine. I gotta make a phone call." I waved a hand through the mist and grabbed my phone, dialing the number I promised myself I would only use in emergencies.

"Hey, Hylla. I hate to ask for favors, but this is an emergency."


	8. Dreams and More Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thalia's drunk, Reyna has weird dreams, and other demigods ship things

Reyna's POV

I carefully shook Thalia's shoulder in an attempt to wake her up. The daughter of Zeus groaned loudly and her good eye fluttered halfway open. I fought down a sudden spike of nausea, the eye was milky and unfocused like a film had formed over it. I coughed to hide the urge to vomit and Thalia turned the dark blue froth towards me.

"Rey-Reyna?" She muttered softly, her voice cracking like she could barely move. Her skin was pale and she was almost totally limp. I held the glass of alcoholic liquid tightly, my stomach churning at what I knew I had to do. Even though I knew it was the only way it just felt wrong, like I would accidentally hurt her. I took a steadying breath and gently put the cup to her lips.

"I'm here, drink this, Will said it would help," Thalia was either too tired, or too sick to ask what it was and instead just swallowed it. She coughed slightly and I filled the glass again.

"Wha-What are you giving me? Germ-x?" She attempted to joke, but instead broke off into a coughing fit. I gently pushed her back into the makeshift seat I had made her out of pillows. 

"You don't want to know," I answered softly and again helped her drain a second glass of the liquid. It didn't take long for me to see it was working slightly. Some of her color had returned and her breathing had evened, but I could also see the side effects of my makeshift cure. Thalia had downed half of the bottle before I decided it was enough. She giggled drunkenly when I tried to yank the glass away from her. I managed to at least pitch the bottle out the window before she got anymore. She pouted and tried to stand up.

"No, no no no no!" I yelped and pushed her back into the bed and she grinned up at me evilly. Oh no.

"Gotcha!" She yelled playfully and latched her arms around my shoulders and rolling over, successfully pinning me to the bed, I couldn't help it as my face turned beat red, staring up at the daughter of Zeus. The odd film had long since left her eye, leaving them to be their normal stormy blue, the alcohol was now in her system, getting rid of the poison, but also making her act like this complete dork. I tried to push her off, but the girl was stronger then she looked and she was quick. With the speed of a viper she had my hands pinned above my head and was straddling me. If I was blushing before now I was sure my face was going to burst into flames. She seemed to notice my embarrassment.

"Having fun?" She asked, leaning her face down close to mine and I kept myself from screaming just barely. This was not how I thought this day was going to go. I had trouble believing this was all one day to start out with, but now I was pinned under a drunken daughter of Zeus. She laughed as I squirmed under her. "You're pretty cute, you know that right?" She said flirtatiously and I think I died a little on the inside. I mean I wasn't above admitting Thalia was cute, and my emotions towards her were much less then professional, but this is not how I wanted it to happen. I finally managed to get a hand free and pinned her down on the bed now. She smirked flirtatiously and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

"Okay, you're going to rest now, and I'm going to try to not scream." I told her and she just laughed.

"You're cute when you're giving orders, thinking I'll follow them. I'm Thalia freaking grace! I can't be controlled!" She tried to push me off, but I simply leaned my face down towards her and, just as I expected, she froze and turned bright pink. I grinned and she huffed softly.

"Fine," She grumbled and I stood brushing myself off. I grabbed a blanket and threw it over her, now that she was laying down and had just wrestled me, she looked tired out. I bent down to gently tuck her in out of habit and she grabbed my wrist. I looked up and met her eyes again. They had changed in a matter of seconds from those dark, hooded eyes staring down at me, to soft, innocent blue lenses. She was giving me her best puppy-dog eyes, and I found myself rooted to the ground. "Please stay," She said and before I could properly figure out what she was talking about, she yanked me on to the bed again, but didn't pin me down this time.

Our faces were inches apart, hers was tinted a light pink. Her eyes now bore deeply into mine. Her eyes were so much different from her brother's Jason. I mean the siblings were so different in general that I couldn't believe they had the same godly parent, much less human. Jason was blonde, with light blue eyes that reminded me of the sky on a clear sunny day. Beautiful and powerful, but also controlled, calm. Thalia was the complete opposite with dark midnight hair, and eyes like a thunderstorm. They were an ever changing expanse of dark blue, that seemed to flash with it's own lightning, wild, crazy, unpredictable, and untamed. Her entire existence was summed up in her eyes, just reminding me how different she was from her brother. Her eyes just reminded me of how I was simply human, and she was a living, breathing, storm on the horizon. 

Before I could move or tell Thalia that I needed to do my homework and go get her stuff from her room she burrowed into my side. Her head now resting on my chest. She threw her blanket over me and wrapped an arm around my waist. My heart beat hard in my chest and I blushed, but Thalia just smiled and decided to use me as a pillow. It was mere seconds before she was asleep, on top of me might I add. I felt a strong rush of protectiveness towards the girl in my arms. I coughed softly and felt my face turn red, Thalia neither noticed nor stirred so now I was stuck under a sleeping daughter of Zeus.

 

 

I'm not sure when I fell asleep, but I do know that for the first time since the war my garden scene lay undisturbed. I frowned slightly at the peaceful garden for a moment, half expecting to see the face of Orion to pop out of Bacchus' fountain, but no such incident's occurred. It was almost eeiry. The sky was a clear blue, the sun setting in the distance, the peace was overwhelming and chilling to the bone after countless nights of fear and inability to rest. A voice behind me startled me out of my wonderings of when something was going to try to kill me.

"Well, isn't this a beautiful place," I spun to face the voice only to find myself staring at Thalia, or what looked like a younger version of my friend. She was maybe 13, her hair was longer and wilder, the spray of freckles across her nose seemed like a splash of color over otherwise paper white skin. Her eyes slightly too big for her face. She stood beside me and although she was younger, and shorter then me she radiated an aura of anger and fear. 

"W-What?" I said confusedly, what the heck was a younger version of Thalia doing in my dream?

"Don't worry, I'm not actually Thalia, at least not the one you know. I'm the version of her that died on half-blood hill." I noticed this Thalia held herself with more dignity and honor then the one I knew did. She was more stern, more... Roman.

"What are you doing here? How are you here?" I asked and she shrugged.

"To be honest I'm not sure, usually I'm cursed to wander camp-half blood forever. I don't know how I got here." She brushed a bit of hair behind her ear. "If I had to guess it would be to tell you about my mother." When she mentioned the woman she flinched just at the word as if anticipating an invisible blow.

"Is that what attacked, er, you earlier?" I asked, trying to mask how weirded out I was.

"Sort of, It was her mania, I've heard you know what those are, My mother's mania is different then most however. Hers is bound to the person she spent most of her life hating, yelling at, the person she dumped everything onto. That would be Thalia. Me... the ghost is bound to Thalia and it's sole purpose is to continue through it's afterlife what it did in life. Dump every single one of the world's problems on her shoulders, when she can she will hurt Thalia. This is something Thalia can't fight though, because if she fights back, she's already becoming what she fears most. Her mother. Thalia both fears that ghost because it's everything that she's been taught, or learned to fear in the early years of her life, and its everything she fears she's becoming. She fears that she will become her mother." Younger Thalia explained and looked up at me with shattered blue eyes, less a wild storm, and more a shattered piece of glass. 

"What can I do about that? I'm no child of Hades, i have no control over the dead, nor can I even see this thing!" I half yelled, angrier then I thought it would have sounded. Why was I mad? Who was I mad at? Myself. For not being able to protect Thalia from being torn in two.

"You can convince her that she isn't her mother, that she's nothing like her, that she can stand up to her. My mother is a mania, she wont be able to touch Thalia now that you got it out of her system, but you need to convince her she can stand up to her. I don't want to have to live with the same mistake I made with Luke. I let his voice haunt me, I listened to him at night when he would stand beside my tree and talk to me even though he thought I couldn't hear him. Because of that I ended up being all messed up like I am now. Don't let me make that mistake again." The 13-year-old yelled at me. Her eyes sharp and deadly. I backed away fearfully and swallowed it down just as quickly. I stared at the young version of Thalia and saw something I hadn't before. Scars, scars lined the girl's skin, going in many different directions, and I was almost certain they weren't from monsters.

"I have always hated myself Praetor, that wasn't any different then, than it is now. For once I'd like someone to give me one good reason not too." With that the room faded into oblivion.

 

 

I awoke to the sound of someone giggling. I groggily opened my eyes and tried to recapture my bearings. It was dark outside now and I lay on the bed with Thalia's head resting underneath my chin and her arms around my waist. Now, it wasn't like this was a one sided thing, okay. I had one arm wrapped around Thalia's shoulders, pinning her to me, her lips curled upward in a sleepy smile. Across the room, sticking their heads in the door and giggling were Hazel, Jason, and who I assumed to be Thalia's former room mate. It took about .0007 seconds for me to compute this was an embarrasing situation. Unfortunately, Jason had his special demigod phone out and had already snapped several photo's.

"I-It's not what it looks like!" I said, my face turning a bright pink. Jason laughed.

"Sure, that's why she is practically curled up on top of you," he muttered. I carefully attempted to de-attach myself from Thalia so I could strangle Jason, but the daughter of Zeus only tightened her group. I blushed bright red. Jason laughed, covering his mouth to keep from waking Thalia. Smart guy, unfortunately not smart enough. 

"Jason that's enough, let me in," Hazel said and shoved Jason to the side and walking to the closet to pack her stuff. Thalia's former room mate tossed me a silver bag.

"There's Thalia's stuff, she already had it packed," She explained as Hazel walked over to her bed and started to strip the sheets.

"By the way you two make a cute couple," Hazel called and I was pretty sure the room was glowing from how red my face was.

"W-we aren't a couple!" I tried to straighten out, but the daughter of Pluto just rolled her eyes.

"Reyna, it doesn't take a daughter of Aphrodite to figure out you two like each other," she said and threw a sock at me. I felt like I was melting into a puddle on the floor. All the people here and people screaming must have been too much because I could feel Thalia starting to stir. 

She muttered a quiet, "Five more minutes," and burrowed further into the crook of my neck, probably not helping my argument. Hazel laughed softly whilst Jason watched from the door and muttered in a soft voice, "Percy, Annabeth, and Pipes are going to be dying of laughter." I gave him my death glare, but he just laughed it off. Hazel finished packing and threw the bag over her shoulder.

"Look, my point is even if you aren't a couple yet, you're heading that way." she said and smiled at me happily. 

I buried my face in the covers to hide the huge blush covering my face and heard them laugh softly as they held the room. Thalia muttered something tiredly, just in time for me to catch before she drifted off again and I was left to comprehend what I had just got myself into. Percy reads his texts within 5 seconds of receiving them, Annabeth does as well, and they would practically tackle Piper with their phones when they saw the pictures, so I had maybe 4 hours before I got an Iris message from Annabeth, Piper, and Percy, but before I could get up and get into my pajamas or at least move Thalia to her bed I found that I didn't want to move. It was warm here, and safe, why would I want to leave? I was out like a light, and this time I truly slept dreamlessly and undisturbed. 

Maybe things in the future wouldn't be that bad after all, oh, but I was wrong, things were about to get much, much worse.


	9. Dickface is a Dick

Thalia's POV

I awoke with a pounding head. My entire body felt like I had been repeatedly run over and then dumped into a wood chipper. I mumbled a soft protest of pain and attempted to squirm back under the covers of my bed, when I realized I was already under the covers. I slowly opened my eyes half expecting to see the normal lonely, bare surroundings of my tent. Instead I found myself face to face with the Praetor of New Rome. She was still asleep with her head resting calmly on a pillow. Her face was almost 10 years younger then it was when she was awake. No worry, none of the ageing and the pain was shown on her sleeping face, she just looked calm. Like nothing in the world mattered and she was just a kid. A kid who hadn't been forced to grow up too fast.

My face was the color of the sunset and I felt like I was missing something big. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. My arms were wrapped around her waist, and I was laying on top of her. I was the one who had started this. I blushed harder and slowly released my hold on her waist and got out of the bed. It was dark outside and according to Reyna's clock it was 2:00 in the morning. I rubbed my head and groaned, making my way towards the bathroom when I heard the giggling and whirled around. Up in the corner of the room, positioned directly out of my line of vision was an Iris message, Piper, Percy, and Annabeth's faces all staring at me and Reyna and when they saw that I saw them the all cracked up laughing. 

Reyna launched herself upward at the sudden noise and now stood on top of the bed, her hair a mess, t-shirt rumpled, the left leg of her jeans pushed upward, and knife in hand. She looked absolutely ridiculous.

Percy was losing it, he had his head thrown back and was laughing so hard that he was crying.

"I'll admit I was skeptical when Jason texted me, but now," Piper said and both Reyna and I's faces turned the same shade of red.

"I-It's not!" Reyna tried to interject, but they weren't hearing any of it.

"Oh my gods you guys are such an adorable couple!" Percy half shouted and I restrained myself from throwing something at the iris message. Annabeth looked the most amused out of the three, her grey eyes practically turning into head lights.

"Thalia, you didn't tell me you were into girls," She teased and I turned a brighter red.

"I'm not, I didn't, were not-" I tried to get a sentence out, but my mouth felt stuffed with cotton.

They all just laughed and Reyna managed to regain her composure whilst I attempted not to turn a brighter red. Reyna just rolled her eyes.

"Let's get this straight, we aren't dating, nor do we like each other. It was simply a misunderstanding. We had a run in with a monster, and when we got to safety we both just crashed, now please stop laughing, or the next time I see you all I'm going to be bashing some skulls in." Her voice was deadly calm, all the same I had to hide the blow my heart took when she said nor do we like each other in such a calm, normal tone. Like it didn't concern her or was a weather forecast. It had absolutely nothing to do with her. I'll admit it, I have emotions and they were hurt a bit.

"Sure," Piper said, a smirk on her face, her daughter of Aphrodite powers must've been on fire. Reyna coughed and turned her head to the side to hide the blush that had sprayed across her face. I cleared my throat.

"Not that it isn't great to hear from you guys, but it's like 2 in the morning and I have homework to do. Also, my head hurts like shit, so bye." I reached up and waved my hand through the mist to dispel the image. Reyna awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, blushing furiously. I decided to ignore it. She had made it clear, the feelings she had for me were strictly friendly, I'd have to back off and give her some space. I turned on the sink and splashed some cold water on my face to get rid of the blush and grabbed my bag to search for an aspirin. My head pounded more then it had when I'd first gotten up and I felt dizzy. I pressed a hand onto the sink to stable myself when a gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up to meet Reyna's eyes.

"Hey, you feel okay?" She asked, the dark eyes staring into mine. 

"I'm fine, just a head ache," I lied and swallowed the pill before grabbing out my tooth brush. Reyna handed me the tooth paste before heading over to her closest to change, I forced myself not to stare and turned a bright pink.

"How'd you sleep?" She asked after a moment and I hesitated for a moment. For the first time in literally forever I hadn't had a single dream. As long as I could remember that had never happened.

"Fiiine," I said with a mouthful of toothpaste before rinsing my mouth and repeating the comment. Reyna nodded, staring at the wall with a calculating expression. "Why? Did you have a weird dream?" I asked and opened my school bag to pull out my geometry homework and English textbook. 

"Yeah, don't worry, it wasn't bad, just weird," She said and again hesitated before asking, "how much do you remember?" I stood still, puzzled.

"Remember about what?" I asked, having no Idea about what she was talking about. She turned to face me and I was surprised to see that she appeared to be barely holding back tears. 

"Remember about what happened after the coffee shop," she muttered and I shivered, raw memories hitting me. I suddenly felt the sting of my formerly black eye and the skin around it. I reached up to touch it and my nose which appeared to be recently set, and I half expected a glimmer of pain.

"Oh.. right," I said quietly and sighed. "I remember... I remember hearing her voice, then the first 20 blows, after that its a blur, but I think there was something about Will. I d-don't know, I just-" I was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping around me tightly. I blinked, surprised by the sudden hug from this girl I was supposed to just be friends with. 

"Never scare me like that again, pinecone-face," She growled and gripped me by the back of my blazer. I gently wrapped my arms around her as well, carefully latching myself on her.

"I can't make any promises," I muttered softly and coughed. Reyna took a deep breath, before carefully releasing me and wiping her face. She looked at the clock and then her reflection and shook her head.

"You can go ahead an stay up, I'm to tired for this anyway." She said and got back into her bed before curling up to go back to bed. I stared at her for a solid ten seconds, before turning to my geometry homework, jotting answers I only half thought out.

I woke up at 6 AM with my face resting in the middle of my English textbook, the horrible screeching of an alarm clock awakening my corpse from its eternal slumber. Reyna was just starting to wake up, but I hated alarm clocks and before she could properly shut it off a spark of electricity jumped from me to the clock which short circuited and died. She stared at me for a moment before muttering, "Next time I'll get you earphones," I blushed softly and shrugged sheepishly.

"Sorry, I just hate Alarm clocks," I reached up and brushed a hand through my hair, Reyna snickered.

"Nice bed head grace," I rolled my eyes and stood to grab some clothes from my bag and walked to the bathroom.

"I call first shower!" I yelled and closed the bathroom behind me.

 

An hour later we were leaving the dorm to go get breakfast at the mess hall when we bumped into Hazel and my former room mate. They both giggled softly and I felt my face flush slightly. Reyna coughed and somehow kept her composure, as if they didn't exist. I admired how she could control her emotions like that. I couldn't I had tried, but my emotions were like their own separate entity that just happened to live inside me. All I could do was let them happen. I kept going back to those words, even though I know it was hopeless and stupid. Never scare me like that again, pinecone-face. She had said, like she had been worried sick about me, like she actually cared, like I mattered.

"Thalia?" Reyna asked and I realized I had gotten distracted and stopped walking. Reyna looked nervous, probably thinking that I was seeing my mother's ghost again. Fortunately that was not the case. I shrugged off my thoughts and walked faster to catch up with Reyna and Hazel. Frank and Jason were making their way across the school yard to join us. 

Reyna caught my arm, "You okay?" She asked and I felt a bit like she was being a little over protective of me, but after what happened yesterday I couldn't blame her.

"Yeah, I just spaced out. Don't worry I see no sign of my mother," I tried to calm her down, but she just looked edgier. We finally made our way into the building, going straight for the breakfast line. The rain pounded against the windows of the building and Thunder shook the entire school. I loved days like this, when It was stormy all day. When It was stormy you had an excuse to not do anything and just curl up in a window with a book. Unfortunately we couldn't do that today. Today we had school. I groaned softly with my head resting on the table, feeling like I had been hit with a car. My head pounded again and I was dizzy again. The asprin seemed to have worn off. I felt nauseated and just outright sick. Maybe I was coming down with something?

"I feel like roadkill," I groaned and Reyna placed a hand on her forehead, her eyes troubled so easily. Yesterday's events must have really spooked her, due to how easily she got worried whenever I said I wasn't feeling good.

"Maybe you should go back to the room, get some rest," Reyna advised, but I wasn't going to give Captain Dickface the satisfaction that he had gotten the upper hand on me. I shook my head.

"Reyna, chill, I'll be fine, just need to wake up a bit," I went to take a bite of my cereal, but Reyna stole the spoon out of my hand. "Hey!" I complained and Reyna gave me a look.

"If you aren't going back to the room, you are at least going to let me make sure you don't get poisoned again," She said and ate a spoonful of my cereal. I was starting to wonder if this was going to become a regular occurrence when a voice behind me interrupted the Table's conversation.

"Did you like your tea yesterday?" Captain Dickface said, he was accompanied by his club of convicts and thugs. I whipped around to snarl an angry comment, but Reyna simply caught my arm. She gave them a death look and smacked away one oh the boys' hands which held a vial of suspicious grey liquid. 

"Go back to the hell hole you crawled out of," She growled and Captain Dickface smirked.

"I'll admit I'm impressed Praetor, I've never seen anyone live through what Thalia did. I respect that you are probably the reason for that," He observed my friend with dark eyes and I clenched my jaw. "However, I can see that it may have," he gestured to the bruised side of my face, smirking in triumph. "had some, lasting, effects."

Reyna's eyes seemed to darken, burning like the pits of Tarturus, even Captain Dickface paled at the look she was giving him. "If you ever pull something like that, any of you," she turned her eyes onto all of his friends who backed away really quickly, "I'll rip your balls off and shove them down your throats, and use your intestines as nun-chucks to beat you to death."

Captain Dickface and his friends ran, terror evident on their faces, and I didn't blame them. There was no doubt Reyna planned to do just that if they did try anything again. She turned back to the table, everyone now staring at her, having no clue what the heck she was talking about, or what had made her so mad. She simply grabbed my tray, pushed it away and then slid hers over towards me. I decided not to argue and the daughter of Bellona just held her head, looking more stressed and tired then I had ever seen her before, and that was saying something. 

"Wha-" Jason started to ask, but I cut him off.

"Dickface and his friends tried to poison me yesterday. Reyna saved my life. End of story," The table was uncomfortably silent and everyone appeared shaken up. I finished my food before grabbing Reyna by the arm and dragging her towards the library.


	10. Aphrodite pays a Visit

Thalia's POV

The library was empty, no students were around, no last minute studding or typing, just empty. Good because I needed to talk to Reyna. I grabbed the shorter girl by the shoulders and pinned her against one of the bookshelves the same way she had pinned me against a wall Yesterday. The daughter of Bellona did not look happy, she looked rather angry actually.

"Thalia what is the meaning of this? We have to get to class," I stopped her, she looked ready to collapse from stress.

"Reyna, your veins are popping out of your neck," I said and her face flushed slightly. I gently rubbed her shoulders to try to help her calm down. I might have mentioned I'm not good with people. 

"It's just all of this, happening all at once, I just need to cool down," She said, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself then me. Her eyes were battling her emotions for control, her body so tense and breathing heavy. She was ready to blow, she was starting to freeze up. I gently leaned my face closer to hers, to get her to focus on me, and to my delight it worked.

"Reyna, you're just digging yourself deeper into the hole. You need to calm down. This is normal, this is how normal people deal with their problems, you can't always control your emotions." The roman Praetor was either going to hit me or hug me, I couldn't tell which, when a Voice broke into our conversation. 

"I was hoping this would happen," I whipped around so fast that I swear that I felt a roll of air come from me. The entirety of time seemed to have frozen except me and Reyna. In front of me stood a beautiful woman with the most beautiful features I'd ever seen. She actually looked a lot like Reyna, I mean in a dimly lit room I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Then her face shifted into one in a million nameless, beautiful faces. My skin lit with rage and a slight bit of crimson as I stared at the goddess. Aphrodite.

"Venus," Reyna growled, if she had looked angry before, now she was just plain terrifying. Beautifully terrifying. Her black hair billowed around her shoulders loosely, like a halo of darkness around her face. The beautiful, dark eyes I had grown to like now so black that I could almost feel the pull of a black-hole coming from her. I shivered and backed a couple paces away from the smoldering teenager.

"Girls," The goddess said happily as if she were talking to two old friends, not two demigods she had messed with too much. Aphrodite/Venus smiled over at me and took in my appearance with interest, "Thalia Grace we meet again, It's been what? Eleven years since we've spoken face to face." I glared the goddess down, she smirked at me and walked over to me, I forced myself not to notice that she smelled a lot like Reyna. This woman knew exactly what she was playing with. I clenched my fists.

"What do you want, Aphrodite?" I asked through gritted teeth. The goddess laughed and circled me.

"Thalia Elizabeth Grace, you always want the business up front, no fun!" The goddess chastised me, and just to try my patience surveyed me like a farmer looking over a crop. "I must say I love what you've done with your uniform and the Tattoos were a nice touch. Although, I'd advise in getting some bronzer, you're deathly pale." I restrained myself from clawing at the goddess of love and kicking her. She was in fact a goddess, and a friend of mine's mother. 

"Venus, why are you here?" Reyna managed to get out, looking about to explode. Aphrodite/Venus just smiled at Reyna appriciatively.

"See Thalia, why can't you be more like Reyna here? I mean I made her love life interesting, slightly more then yours." I almost screamed and so did Reyna. Aphrodite's form changed again, and I felt my face flush. She looked almost exactly like Reyna and that was making me extremely uncomfortable. I took a step away and almost fell into a book case. The goddess laughed and her form changed again.

"You're so easily teased," Reyna gave me a confused look, but I just tried to wipe the blush off of my face.

"Just state your business and get out," Reyna muttered and Aphrodite sighed. She spread her hands and a bow and quiver appeared in front of me. Instinctively I grabbed them and Aphrodite smiled.

"My son Cupid has gone missing, leaving behind nothing but his spare bow and arrows. That means he's gone rouge, me and my son are two very different types of love. Mine is the butterflies in your stomach, hard to focus, marriage, dating, heart break kind of love. The kind of love that includes long walks on the beach and staying up until midnight thinking about the other person. Cupid is a very different kind. Cupid is the kind that tears you apart from the inside. The kind of love that is so fierce and deep that the very thought of it makes you want to scream. It is the kind of love that even if you're together your heart hurts when you're apart and you care more about the other person then you do yourself. It's the kind of love that finds broken people and breaks them further. You, daughter of Zeus, have been complaining to me about playing with your emotions for the past couple of years, when you should have been complaining to my son," Reyna's eyebrow rose whilst my face turned the color of a tomato. Aphrodite chuckled slightly.

"And, what does that have to do with us?" Reyna asked, her eyes like steel, cold and solid.

"Simple, Cupid will go after anyone or anything I have meddled with directly. That includes you two. Percy and Annabeth have my daughter's protection, but you two don't. Cupid will target both of you and try to mess up your emotions. He will twist your feelings until you feel like you're being strangled by them. I know who you love individually, I can guarantee that Cupid will use that against you, and if you're wondering why I'm warning you two the reason is I like you. I have a lot more planned and I'm hoping my son doesn't ruin my chances of making future ideas into a reality." I'm not sure if I should feel offended or nervous, or both. I mean Aphrodite just said that she had future plans for me, she also basically affirmed that she knew of, and enjoyed playing with my emotions towards Reyna. She also affirmed that Reyna had a crush on someone as well, and though there was a small chance it was me I felt a glimmer of jealously towards whomever did hold her heart. 

Reyna was now the same color as her roman t-shirt as she forced herself not to explode in anger and rage. I grabbed Aphrodite by the shoulders. "Got it, keep on our toes avoid suspicious looking men, and don't get shot by an arrow. Bye Aphrodite, was nice talking to you," I shoved her towards the exit, but the goddess just rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I meant, because its inevitable that he'll swing you up into his web. My point is be careful of who you love, and make sure that you don't let them out of your sight, because he'll use them against you," She said and with that she disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Reyna still looked about ready to scream. I reached over and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her somewhere where if she did explode she wouldn't cause a scene.

 

Twenty minutes, a missing tooth and re-blackened eye later, Reyna and I made our way into the geometry classroom. I now was missing my bottom left molar and had a bruise along the bottom side of my jaw from trying to keep Reyna from destroying the entire Janitor's closet. My eye was black again and my shoulder had been recently popped back in place from attempting to calm her down. Kids in our class stared at us, but knew if they said anything they'd find themselves not looking much better. Reyna gripped her desk tightly, the fake wood groaning under her fingers. The teacher passed out assignments and I handed her a pencil. She took it and it snapped in between her fingers. I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, she's gone, and she isn't coming back," I whispered and she just pulled a pencil out of her bag. Her eyes set forward like I didn't exist. I felt slightly hurt by that. "Reyna, please, you need to calm down."

She just sat there, silent. Ignoring me and my worried face like I wasn't there. Like I wasn't worrying myself sick about her. Like we hadn't been through all that shit yesterday. Like I was just another face among the hundreds in this school. I slowly pulled away, my pride stung a little and my thoughts just starting down that path they always went. The path that led me to places that always ended in stupid situations and pain.


	11. Jason Isn't the only one with minor head injuries

Thalia's POV

I was walking to my history class, my mind deep within itself. Reyna hadn't spoken to me since the Aphrodite incident, and I have to admit it still stung a bit. I was just trying to get over it. I mean Reyna is a fully functional child of a war goddess, she can take care of herself and just needs some space. I can do that, I'm a strong independent young woman who can take care of herself. At least that's what I told myself when I walked past Dickface and his convicts unknowingly. Didn't I say this led to stupid situations? 

"Yo, grace. You got something on your face!" He yelled and punched me square in the face. i could feel my nose crack, but let's just say I wasn't surprised. I spun and grabbed one of his friend's wrists, judo flipping him and grabbing him by the neck so that I was strangling him. They froze for a minute before one of them, the one Reyna had said was a child of hecate, blasted me backward into a wall of Lockers. My ears rang as my head snapped backward into the metal. I felt a hot sticky liquid on the back of my neck, but I had been hit so hard that I wasn't sure if that was my blood or some kid's exploded lunch box. I noticed even the other demigods looked stunned at what they had done. I was under a pile of backpacks and broken locker doors. You know in the cartoons when a character crashes through the wall it leaves behind a perfect print of their body in the wall? Yeah well I was stuck in a Thalia shaped hole in the wall with blood dripping down the back of my neck. 

"Dude, I think you might've gone a little over board," One of the guys whispered to the other as I tried to clear my vision and get out of my hole in the wall. The demigods glanced at each other. I groaned and managed to callaspe on the floor. My entire head ached. If my head had hurt before now I was officially dying. One of the guys kicked me in the gut and I yelped like a dog. The sound of a teenage girls' body slamming through 12 lockers was apparently loud enough to attract the entire school building. Soon enough the hallway was crowded with students, staring and whispering about the girl covered in blood and the guys who had apparently tried to kill her. They were cornered, caught in the act. Dickface was giving me a murderous look, knowing he was caught. I managed a half hearted smirk before my limbs went numb and my vision swam in and out of black.

The next moments were a blur, all I remember was Jason and Reyna carrying me, an ambulance, and someone repeatedly screaming my name. I don't remember who, or why, but I remember that it was a girl's voice, and she sounded like her entire heart was being ripped out of her chest and run over by a freight train.

 

When I woke up I was laying in a hospital room. I blinked slowly. My side hurt, and my head pounded, but beside that I felt fie. I sat up slowly a voice spoke off to my left.

"Sleeping beauty awakes." I looked over to see Reyna sitting next to me, a smirk on her face. Her eyes were like the dying embers of a fire, warm, and comforting. I took a deep breath and tried to remember what had happened.

"So you admit you think I'm pretty?" I teased hoarsely and swallowed. My throat felt like sand paper. Reyna handed me a glass of water, which I drank greatfully.

"See even in the face of death you still have a quick tounge," She teased lightly. I smiled.

"How long have I been out?" I licked my lips to try and get feeling back in them and surveyed the damage. Bandages around my head, which aches so probably another concussion. My left arm was bandaged, but I could still move it so it wasn't broken, a little nectar will fix that up. I could still feel my body and move it, so I seemed to be fine. 

"Two days," She said and brushed her hair to the side. I nodded and stretched. "Captain Dickhead and his friends are facing charges of attempted murder and bringing an assault rifle on campus," She was avoiding something. I could tell, but decided to play along for now.  
"Is that what they think launched me into a wall? An assault rifle?" I asked plain as day. She shrugged.

"Mortals," We both said at the same time and laughed. I sighed softly and played with the IV in my arm.

"So, you decided that since I got myself blown up that you should talk to me?" I asked, perhaps a bit to bitterly, but I don't care. She had no dam excuse to stop talking to me until I almost got myself killed.

"Thalia," Reyna started, looking a bit hurt and guilty. She better be dam guilty, a part of me said. I shook it off, It was my fault I got hurt not Reyna's. I should've payed more attention. I shouldn't have been walking alone. "I didn't mean to come across as angry, or bitter. But you're my friend, after what Venus said I didn't want anything to happen to you. I... I thought if I shut you out, or made you stay away from me that you wouldn't get hurt. Unfortunately that did the oppisite."

I winced, Reyna was good at hiding her emotions, but I was also good at reading people. Most people would see her statement as just the truth. A fact. But I could here the guilt and glimmer of regret in her tone. I reached out and gently grabbed her hand. The daughter of Bellona turned to look at me and for a wonderful, beautiful moment it seemed like time had stopped and it was just me and Reyna. Her eyes like the night sky during a new moon, pulling me in, drawing me close. Our faces seemed to have come inches closer in seconds so that I could feel her breath tickling my cheeks.

"Reyna, it wasn't your fault," I whispered, suddenly feeling like my confidence had evaporated. Her dark eyes bore into mine and I could've sworn her breath had picked up. "I-It was mine. I should've been paying more attention, I should've... I should'nt have been walking alone. You were right, I was just being stupid!" I started rambling, but the Roman Praetor wasn't hearing any of it. Her eyes had hardened and her fists balled. I suddenly felt like I was being strangled. The look she gave me was like a hungry wolf.

"Never, call yourself stupid. You aren't stupid. You're brave, intelligent, and beautiful. Never think otherwise. " I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Our faces were so close and I'm pretty sure I was staring more at her lips then her face, but I never got to find out what would have happened if we had been left alone another ten minutes. 

The door burst open and Jason, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Will, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper all burst into the room. Reyna pulled away and I dropped my hand before they could try to analyze the situation. My face felt hot and my hand was suddenly cold. I tucked my hands over my chest and tried to clear my face. The demigods surrounded me, Annabeth, Percy, Piper, Nico, and Will must've just flown in because they all had a bag thrown over their shoulders.

"Oh my gods I just heard about what happened," Annabeth said looking concerned. Will handed me a bag of ambrosia and I quickly swallowed a square, the pounding head ache subsiding to a dull throb. Jason probably looked the most concerned, well him and Annabeth because I'd known Annabeth my whole life and Jason was my brother. I sat up.

"I'm fine," I said trying to calm everyone down.

"Are you sure? The Doctor said there might be some brain damage!" Jason said, grabbing my shoulders to try to push me back down. I just rolled my eyes and shoved him off.

"You'll have brain damage if you don't leave me alone," I growled and Percy and Nico laughed.

"Same old Thalia," Percy said and smiled. I rolled my eyes. I didn't have brain damage, at least if I did it wasn't anything major, I can still function.

"You sure you're feeling okay? Your face is flushed," Will said and I tried not to cast a glance at Reyna.

"I'm fine guys, geez. You'd think I'd never gotten hurt before," I said and everyone seemed to calm somewhat after that. I sighed and leaned back against the head board, feeling a little faint. Maybe I did hurt myself pretty badly. Reyna knit her eyebrows and put her hand on my forehead. "I'm fine, Reyna," I muttered, but she seemed to not have heard me.

"Will, can you go get a doctor? I think she has a temperature." Will nodded and ran out the door. I groaned, but she ignored me. 

"You guys should go get settled in at a hotel. I think this is enough excitement for her today." She said to the group, Jason started to protest, but the others seemed to understand and hearded him out the door with them. I sighed.

"Reyna, I don't need a doctor!" I complained, but honestly I was feeling pretty dizzy. Reyna just gave me a look.

"You have a fever, and I'm not letting you get any worse then you already are. You almost broke your spinal cord and cracked open the back of your skull. I'm surprised you haven't had any obvious brain damage. I swear to Jupiter if I ever see those knuckle heads who hurt you again I'll bash their skulls again," I think she was directing that last part towards herself. I grabbed her hand to get her attention. She looked up at me again, and I must've looked pretty bad because she suddenly paled.

"Reyna, calm down, whatever happens after this I'm going to be fine," I tried to reassure her, but at that moment the door opened and a doctor rushed in, looking worried. Reyna appeared frozen, staring at me, pale and shaking. I wasn't feeling much better then she looked. In fact everything was starting to spin. 

"Thalia? Thalia? Can you hear me?" Reyna said and I said something really smart like "Uuuurgmffffffp" before passing out.


	12. Nightmares are The Anti-christ

Thalia's POV

As a demigod I'm accustomed to weird dreams. I mean those are just normal. But these dreams were beyond weird. I don't even know what to say about them. They were just awful. My first one started out like this:

I sat alone in a desk, but I was in a straight jacket, my arms bound and my entire body burning as I fought against the restraints of the fabric. Facing me were all of my friends. Percy stood in front, his green eyes hollow.

"I thought you were my friend!" He yelled and Annabeth gave me a glare.

"Why Thalia?! Why'd you abandon us?!" She cried out, tears streaming down her cheek. A gag prevented me from responding, I fought harder, but I still was bound by a straight jacket.

"Who would ever want a sister like you?" Jason growled and my friends started to surround me. I squirmed and fought, managing to get out of the gag.

"No, NO leave me alone!?" I yelled and screamed, they just came closer, shouting, accusing, tearing me apart. Their hands and feet met my face, my legs, tearing into my skin, blood, bruises, aching and burning. My skin was just one soft target to tear into.

"What kind of a friend does this?" WHACK

"What kind of a person leaves all her friends to die?" SCRATCH

"I can't believe I trusted you!"TEAR. KICK. PUNCH. SPLATTER.

Suddenly a voice cut through them all and I opened my eyes to see they were all gone. All of them except Reyna. She stood facing me. Face expressionless and cold.

"You left us all Thalia. I tried to get close to you. I tried to save you, but in the end you're just worthless, dragging us all down with you. I wish I could change things, but you can take the trash out of the garbage can, but it's still trash," The others had all hit me after their little exclamation of anger, but what Reyna did was much worse. She just turned and walked away.

"No, Reyna please!" I yelled after her, but she didn't seem to hear me. I fought against my restraints one last time and managed to split the jacket. I stood and ran after Reyna, my legs felt like jelly and my face ached, but I had to catch her. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her to face me, but her face had changed. Her eyes were black, no pupil, no iris, no white, just black. The black was flowing down her face like tears, leaking from her mouth as well.

"Why did you abandon Thalia?!" She screamed and suddenly the ground beneath me gave out and I was sent tumbling through the endless expanse of black.

Suddenly my body was laying on a rocky surface, I stood, I was back on Olympus, it was the battle of Manhattan. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stood in front of me.

"Thalia come on!" Percy yelled, and I stumbled after them, confused, wasn't I supposed to be pinned under a Hera statue. We made our way into the throne room and there he stood. Luke. His golden eyes so unlike him, but the scar and that face make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He spun around and laughed at our group.

"The mortal's mightiest heroes, here to die. Thalia Grace, we meet at last. Daughter of Zeus, why don't you show your friends what you really are, monster." I felt a wave towards me and I was launched backwards, my body no longer my own, it was covered in hair and claws. I was the same manticore that had tried so many times to kill us when Artemis had gone missing. Percy, looked startled, but the look of utter betrayal on Annabeth's face made my heart shatter.

"NO!" I yelled and launched myself at Luke, but he struck me aside.

"What? Have you decided that you actually like them? Heroes, Thalia Grace is dead! I killed her yesterday," I clawed at his throat, yelling names I can't repeat here. Luke just held me up.

"Seems my manticore actually likes you, sorry." I felt backbiter pierce my heart. I fell to the ground, blade through my chest and blood seeping the ground. My friends were frozen in horror, the illusion faded and It was just me Thalia, no Manticore costume. I gasped for air and Luke, or the Titan in his body kicked me in the head. 

I snapped open my eyes, I sat alone in the Hunter camp, I noticed a couple Amazons running back and forth, this must've been right before Orion's attack. As if on cue the giant's arrows suddenly flew through, catching every hunter in sight, dead in seconds. I stood and drew my bow, managing to catch the Titan several times, but my hunters weren't fighting back, they just fell dead in seconds. Many of them looking lost and sad.

"Thalia, why did you lead us here? You knew we'd be killed!" one said and another sighed sadly as an Arrow tore through her side.

"There's no point in fighting, this is our eternity lieutenant," She said it mockingly, "forever we must be killed again and again by that giant moron. It's only a matter of time before you join us," An arrow pierced my shoulder and I yelled in pain, falling to my knees, several other hunters lay strewn across the ground. They were so young, to young to be dead. For the first time in this horrible nightmare I felt the tears streaming down my face. I knew these girls, I led them, I had loved them as the family I never had. Now they were dead, because of me. Dead and suffering in eternity at being killed again and again. 

The scene changed again and now I sat in a garden in a place I'd never been, tears still streaming my face from the battle, I could feel all of the wounds now, the stab wound from back biter, the arrow from Orion, the scratches and bruises from my friends, all at once, making the pavement in the garden turn red.

"It's a beautiful place to die," a voice said beside me and I turned to see Reyna standing there. The Reyna I knew. School uniform and all. She had blood staining the front of her shirt, a dagger buried there, several other stab wounds covered her skin. She fell down beside me and more blood stained the ground.

"Reyna, oh my gods, this is all my fault!" I sobbed and tried to pull myself together. Reyna managed a throaty laugh, blood curling from lips. She coughed and wheezed.

"How is this your fault? Thalia.." she wheezed and placed a blood covered hand on my face, her blood mixing with my tears, "look around you," I did. The garden was beautiful, a statue of Mr. D kinda ruined it, but the sun rise in the distance really did bring home the beauty of the garden. "I'm surrounded by everything I love. My favorite spot in New Rome, the sun rise, and you." I was frozen as she leaned up and kissed my forehead. I felt the tears coming again.

"Reyna.." I started, but she simply grabbed my hand and looked at me with sad, soft eyes.

"Thalia, listen to me, we can't change the past, we can only hope for a better future. After all we're just kids. Kids that had to grow up to fast." with that the light faded from the Roman's eyes and a throaty cry escaped me. I clutched the Praetor's slack hand like it would magically bring her back. It didn't and slowly the darkness came to take me too.

 

Reyna's POV

Apparently the major opening in the back of Thalia's head and the cuts on her left arm left her completely vulnerable to infection. Fantastic. The doctors put her on antibiotics and left her to rest, but I was beginning to worry. She looked cold and pale. She's been tossing and turning for the past half-hour and she keeps whimpering. I placed a hand on her cheek worriedly, her skin was hot. She froze at my touch, and her eyes fluttered open. She shivered and looked up at me. Her blue eyes seemed darker then I remembered and she looked exhausted.

"Reyna?" She asked hoarsely. I pressed my lips together and gently pulled up her covers and tucked her in. 

"Yeah, its me. You've contracted an infection. You just love causing me little heart attacks don't you," I teased lightly, but she didn't smile. She instead coughed and grabbed onto my hand like it was a life line. I froze for a moment. There was something... vulnerable about the way she was looking at me. Like a small child clinging to it's mother. She must've had some pretty terrible dreams, I thought. "Hey, it's okay. You're safe, nothing's going to hurt you here. You've got me to scare away whatever gets near you." No reaction. She just stared at me with those scared, childlike orbs. She sat up and pulled me into a tight hug. My eyes widened at first, but slowly I hugged her back.

"Promise me that you aren't going to die," She whispered softly and I felt a chill going down my spine. Was that what this was about? Had I died in her dream? I gently hugged her close.

"I promise," I whispered and we stayed like that for a while. At least until I realized she had fallen asleep like that. I chuckled softly and gently lay her back in the bed, but she wasn't going to let go and ended up pulling me with her. I blushed lightly and tried to de-attach myself, but eventually gave up. I just sighed and shook my head. Dork. I crawled into the bed fully and soon found myself asleep beside the daughter of Zeus.


	13. I Have Mental Issues

Thalia's POV

The room was quiet, no noise. Silent beside the soft drone of machines and slow, soft rhythmic breathing of the two demigods curled up in the hospital bed. Their bodies were woven around eachother like two strings of yarn. The taller, paler girl with the short black hair had her arms thrown around the daughter of bellona. Her hair was strewn across the pillow like strands of silk, glistening softly in the dim hospital room light. The other girl was shorter, but held the taller girl more protectively, like she was shielding her from something, or at least trying to. Her fore head and the other girls touched lightly, like they hadn't been leaning into eachother, but more like it was just instinct. Their legs tangled almost as much as their hair.

The short haired girl is me, sorry if that was a weird beginning, but I didn't know how to start this one. Anyhow, my eyebrows knit together as if I was concentrating then suddenly I shot upward, hair standing up straight on end and eyes wide. I couldn't remember what had just happened, or if it was a dream that woke me up, but I remember that my heart was beating so hard I couldn't hear anything over that and the ringing in my ears. My chest ached and I gasped for air like I'd just come up from underwater, my head felt like it was on fire. My body was covered in sweat and I just felt like utter garbage.

Arms gently wrapped around me and pulled me back down onto the bed, I turned to see Reyna looking at me with concerned eyes. She gently pulled me close to her and placed a cool hand on my face. I relaxed slightly at her touch, trying to remember why I had woken up, but my mind felt like mush. 

"Thalia, relax, it was just a dream," Reyna said quietly, gently stroking my back like I was a small animal she was trying not to scare away. Normally i'd be offended, but that's what I felt like, scared, lost, and ready to just curl up into a ball and cry. I these nightmares were just getting worse, I couldn't remember the last one, but I remember having to watch Zoe die again and again. I also remember having to watch, helpless as my mother beat Jason, not grown up 16 year old Jason, but baby 6 month old Jason go through what I did. He had to get beat and yelled at. I had a feeling the worse was yet to come, but every nightmare left me even more tired then the last. Reyna was still trying to calm me down, combing her fingers through my hair.

"Thalia, it's okay you can go back to sleep, I've got you," I glanced up to meet the Roman's eyes, half-expecting to see her glaring disapprovingly down at me, but instead was met with sad, tired eyes. She probably wasn't getting anymore sleep then I was. I shook my head after a moment.

"Please," I croaked out in a pitiful, weak, vulnerable voice that made my insides twist in disgust that this was what I'd become. I was such a hypocrite. I can't even get out more then a couple words without breaking into a coughing fit. What kind of a worthless junkie have I turned into? Your mother. A voice hissed in the back of my mind and I fought down the urge to barf. I was already as dizzy enough as it was. I was though. Look at me, a weak, pathetic loser that can't take care of herself and others are forced to carry her problems. Like Reyna... I really was turning into my mother. I sighed and built up my courage.

"Reyna, you should go back to the dorm, I-I" I coughed and felt like my chest was going to collasp. She shook her head.

"Don't even try to convince me to leave you here alone. You and I both know you wont make it till morning if I do," she said and I sighed, it was worth a try. Reyna gently took my temperature with her hand again and I closed my eyes for a moment. Her hand felt ice cold on my skin, like she'd just stepped out of the freezing cold. I coughed and she bit her lip nervously. "Maybe I should go get a doctor, I think the antibiotics are wearing off," 

I groaned softly, but she just stood and gently tucked me back into the bed, it felt colder suddenly, without her beside me. I looked up at her, hoping for a moment that she'd change her mind and go back to the dorm where it was safe and she didn't have to worry about me. But she didn't grab for her bag, nor did she grab her coat or put her shoes back on. She just carefully snuck down the hall to get a nurse. I closed my eyes and fevered dreams came to take me.

It was here again. The livingroom to my old house, or my mother's house. Bottles and other things worse then alcohol covered the floor as a little girl picker her way through the mess towards me. She reminded me of someone, but I wasn't quite sure who when she looked up at me. She was latino with soft caramel skin and dark hair falling down her shoulders in an untamed mop, but her eyes were a sad soft brown, big and fearful. She looked up at me with terror.

"Hide please, she's coming!" She whispered and dived under the couch, surprized and confused I ducked behind the stair case as a woman rushed into the room, her eyes were a dark blue, her hair a long matted nest of black, her skin milky pale and freckles dotted her face. She smiled gruesomely and tugged the child out from under the couch. She screamed and the woman laughed crazily. "Please help!" she screamed, but the woman just laughed and slapped the child across the face, sending her tumbling to the floor.

"No!" I yelled and threw myself between the girl and her attacker, who looked a little too much like someone I knew. She just laughed.

"You can't save her," the woman taunted and stepped foreward, I blocked her path and glared at her.

"Fucking watch me," The woman grabbed me by the throat and I spun to try to kick her, but she threw me on top of a pile of broken bottles, I gasped in pain.

"Let me finish!" she roared and faced me, suddenly it hit me who these two were and why I reconized them. Horror twisted my stomach and the woman smiled, her matted black hair and blue eyes looking hauntingly like my mother. "You can't save her from yourself,"

 

"Thalia, Thalia, Thalia wake up!" a voice yelled in my ear and I sat bolt upright, smacking my skull against someone else's.

"Ow!" Reyna muttered and rubbed her forehead. I groaned and flopped back down onto the bed, a doctor stood next to Reyna, looking concerned. "Sorry to wake you, but the doctor wanted to check and see how bad the brain damage is." She said, the tone clear in her voice. Mortals are idiots.

"Right, " I muttered hoarsely and Reyna gently helped me sit up, I placed my head on her shoulder, feeling more exhausted then ever.

"Okay, can you please tell me your full name," The doctor asked and I focused on keeping myself awake.

"Thalia Bethany Grace," I muttered, he nodded and jotted something down.

"Where were you born?"

"Los Angeles California," 

"Who was your mother?"

"Beryl Grace,"

"Father,"

"I didn't know him sir,"

"Brother?"

"Jason Grace,"

"How old are you?"

"16,"

"Good, you've passed the memory portion of the test. Now we have to check for other things," The doctor said matter of factly like we were discussing the uses of a fork, not potential brain damage. "Alright, so Thalia, I want you to tell me what color you see," The doctor held up a card.

"Orange," I said and he nodded, switching cards.

"This one?"

"Green,"

"Blue,"

"Pink,"

"Yellow,"

"Uhhhhm..." I stopped and stared at the paper squinting my eyes. It looked yellow, but that couldn't be right. The last one had just been yellow, unless he was trying to throw me off. "Yellow?" I said questioningly. Reyna frowned, and so did the doctor. Nope, crap maybe I did have some brain damage.

"No Thalia, I'm afraid that there is some damage, but not too major, lots of people are color blind." He said and waved his hand like it was nothing. I didn't like this guy.

"Wait, then what color is that?" I asked, Reyna coughed awkwardly.

"Light purple," She said and I sighed halfheartedly. I could live with that.

For at least three hours we went on like that, testing my responses to sights and sounds, trying to see how bad the damage was. In the end this is what we had come to conclusion on. The brain damage, as for sights left me with partial color blindness and my hearing in my left ear would need a hearing aid. Apparently as soon as I got over my infection I was supposed to go into testing for mental illnesses. As you can probably tell my life is going to be oodles of fun for the next couple of weeks, but it beats school.

I leaned back in the bed, my head aching and ears pounding, all of that had left me more tired then ever, but after my last dream the last thing I wanted to do was sleep. Reyna sat in the chair beside me again, leaving me alone in the bed. I felt cold and tired, my back ached and honestly, I had felt better when Reyna was holding me. I know I'm a pathetic loser who can't even sleep on her own, but I'll admit I'm lovesick and just plainsick. I could barely even hear anything over my pounding head. I gently reached out and grabbed Reyna's hand again. She looked over at me and I knew she understood without a word.

"Thalia, I know this is all really hard for you, and I promise I'm here for you. I promise." She whispered and gripped my hand. I managed a soft smile, and slowly drifted off. 

For the next 2 hours I slipped in and out of nightmare and reality so much the two started to blur. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and opened my eyes to meet Reyna's. The room was dark again and the daughter of Bellona's outline was dimly illuminated by the soft light from my IV.

"You were whimpering my name in your sleep, Is everything okay?" she asked and I tried to nod, but I just felt like my body was made of lead so instead I croaked out, "I'm fine," which sounded about as convincing as 'You'll be safe'

"Thalia, I know that isn't true, every time you fall asleep you always wake up crying," she paused as if running her next words through her head to see if she really wanted to say them before the next words came out. "Thalia, I don't like seeing you like this.. I-It hurts. I don't want you to feel like that, promise me that you aren't going to hurt yourself. That when I have to leave for class tomorrow that I'm going to come back to you safe when school is over. Okay, promise me." I couldn't tell if this was another nightmare or reality. I felt a crashing wave of guilt, she shouldn't feel this way over someone as worthless and stupid as me. But if it will make her happy I'll keep myself alive until the day she dies. I took a deep breath,

"I promise," I croaked and she nodded, as if that were some kind of deal sealer she crawled into the bed beside me and I felt my heart flutter in my chest as Reyna gently pulled me close to her so that my head was resting against her chest. I carefully and naturally just settled into her, her body felt nice and cool against mine which was burning slowly with fever.

"Good, because I think that we still have a long path to unfold," She whispered softly and for the first time in what felt like forever I drifted off into a dreamless sleep. I knew that the gods of love whoever they were had taken a vulnerable time to get at me again, but I also knew that this actually wasn't that bad. I could live with this if it meant I had this safety I hadn't felt in years. I could live with it if it meant that my thoughts would be consumed with the well being of another and not how I could potentionally get myself killed. I could live with it if all I thought about was Reyna, and not if I wanted to live through the next twenty seconds or jump out the window and plunge to my death.


	14. Prince Charming is a girl, and her name is Reyna

Thalia's POV

That's it! I give up! I am fricking done with all of this stupid freaking shit! I am not even going to attempt to deny that I have a giant crush on Reyna anymore. Aphrodite won! I surrender. If you're wondering why I'm freaking out about this, or thought I had already established this, well great job, you're good at reading people. But in all seriousness the true reason I have established this and am done is what happened this morning.

I opened my eyes slowly. The hospital room seemed warmer then normal. That's when I remembered that Reyna was curled up next to me, her hair all in her face so that she reminded me of a cat. She seemed to still be asleep, but as soon as I lifted my head from her chest her eyes flicked open. She rubbed her heard and sat up slowly, glancing at the clock.

"Shit!" she yelled promptly and stood, quickly pulling on her coat and swinging her bag over her shoulders before scouring the floor for her shoes.

"Slow down, where's the fire," I said, feeling a lot better then I had the night before. Reyna looked over at me as I scooped up her sneakers from my side of the bed and handed them to her.

"I'm late," She said and pulled on the sneakers, I snickered slightly. She looked like a five year old with her rumpled t-shirt and jeans and with her hair in a hopelessly tangled mop around her face. She finished grabbing her stuff and walked over, giving me a quick hug. "I'm sorry, please take care of yourself. I'll be back as soon as I can." and, without even hesitating, kissed my cheek before rushing out the door. I sat frozen, my eyes wide and face glowing a soft pink. She had just kissed me, well not on the lips and it was probably nothing more then a sisterly kiss, but really?! My heart hammered in my chest and for the first time it wasn't because of a nightmare. I could feel the spot where she had kissed my cheek burning and I had the realization that I was losing this battle with the love gods, and really, really, really badly.

Reyna's POV

Why did I do that? Why on earth did I do that?! Thalia is my friend, and I'm barely accomplishing that, and I just had to go and make it awkward. As I ran into my homeroom class I heard a couple kids whispering as I ran by.

"That girl is the friend of the one that got hurt right?" one asked his friend. 

"I saw her fight the kids that had beat up the other one. She's cool," The other one said. I shivered, remembering what had happened after Thalia's fight.

 

"Look, Jason I'm fine. Me and Thalia just had a disagreement," I said to Jason as we walked to our next class. Jason didn't look so convinced, I shot him my death glare. "I'm. Fine."

"Reyna we worked together for 4 years. I'll know if you are fine," He said and I huffed, rolling my eyes. A loud noise ran through the entire school building, shaking the walls and causing plaster to rain down from the ceiling. BANG. Like a million tin cans being crushed at once. I grabbed my dagger and Jason pulled a coin out of his pocket, a replica of the one he'd lost about a year ago. 

We charged down the hallway, a mob of students behind us, going to investigate the source of he noise. Hazel and Frank ran up to join us, but Thalia was nowhere in sight which wasn't a good sign.

"Was it a monster?" Hazel asked when they had caught up to us.

"I'm not sure, the gods said that is would be harder for monsters to find us, but with our luck probably," Jason muttered and Frank nodded, looking at me. 

"Me and Hazel will take it from the other side, surround and destroy," He said, I nodded finalizing the plan. 

"Tell me if you see Thalia," I said and they sprinted down another hallway to come at the threat from behind. I saw a crowd of students ahead, many looking shocked. Me and Jason shoved our way through the crowd, many mortals didn't even seem to notice us. None were screaming, none were cowering. It could have been a monster that had attacked Thalia and she'd already dealt with it, but when we reached to front I felt like my legs would give out.

Stretched out, limp on the floor Thalia lay. Her black hair matted with blood, her entire body was covered in the dark red liquid. The demigods that had been trying to kill her since the beginning stood a couple paces away, looking down at her with a bit of surprise, but the boy in the lead looked satisfied. My blood ran hot, this boy had been trying to kill Thalia, and now might have accomplished that. I launched myself forward, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the wall. 

"I'm going to rip off your limbs and beat you with them!" I yelled, my eyes blazing. Hazel, Frank, and Jason all rushed forward. Hazel and Frank tried to yank me off of Captain Dickface whilst Jason looked like he was about to join in on strangling him. I head butted the boy and punched him square in the jaw with enough force to send him flying. His friends, Hazel, and Frank succeeded in yanking me away, but I screamed and tried to get at him again.

"She deserved what she got!" Dickface yelled and I threw myself at him again, this time Jason was with me. We both hit him, punching and kicking. Teachers rushed forward to try and break it up while others called an ambulance. I managed to get a hand hold on Dickface and promptly sunk my finger nails into his flesh. He yelled and kicked me in the stomach, I went tumbling backward, landing beside Thalia. The daughter of Zeus groaned and her eyes fluttered slightly. She looked at me and managed a slight smirk before closing her eyes again. I stood and grabbed Dickface by the back of his shirt and punched him, again and again. They tried to pull me away, they tried to stop me, but I wouldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't think of anything besides Thalia, body limp and bloody because of this asshole. I punched him harder until they finally pulled me off of him, but I still screamed after him.

"I will find you and tear you apart. Never fucking touch my Thalia again! You're going to suffer in the deepest depths of hades! I will fucking kill you!" I kept screaming after him, I didn't realize I was crying, I didn't see that I was physically being restrained by all of my friends. I didn't notice that I had clutched tightly in my hands my dagger, now covered up to the hilt in blood. 

My friends tried to calm me down, holding me against one of the walls so I couldn't go running after him with my knife.

"Reyna, please calm down Thalia is going to be fine," Jason tried to reassure me, but I slammed my hand against one of the locker doors.

"He deserves to have his head in his own chest cavity for what he did!" I roared, and Hazel warily backed away. I managed to get my arms free and tried to run after him, but Frank grabbed me from behind, I kicked and squirmed like a child throwing a tantrum. Suddenly I felt something hit me over the head and it all went dark.

My eyes snapped open a couple seconds later, I was laying on the ground, my friends stood over me, exchanging looks, trying to calculate how dead they were, but I managed to pull myself upright. I took a deep breath and slowly calmed down from my explosion. 

"S-sorry Reyna, but you-" Hazel started, but I just waved her off.

"were hysterical, I know. You did what was needed, I don't blame you," I steadied myself and looked over at Thalia, several teachers were crowded around her, trying to give her first aid, which they obviously had no clue about. We walked over and quickly took over. I bound her wounds with bandages and helped her sip a little bit of nectar, which Jason told them was water. She stirred slightly and looked up at me.

"Rey-Reyna?" she whispered hoarsely and I looked up, placing a hand on her cheek.

"Don't try to talk. You have gotten yourself hurt pretty badly," I muttered, sounding like I was scolding her. She laughed softly, but it sounded more like she was wheezing.

"I always get myself hurt, I thought you had figured that out by now," she muttered, blood seeped from her lips, as if she hadn't lost enough of it already. She winced and I quickly handed her a square of ambrosia. The worst of the wounds were already mending themselves. A large hole was through her stomach from landing in the wall and getting skewered like shish-kebab it now was roughly the size of a quarter and still closing. Her head worried me though. The back of her skull was so thoroughly cracked it resembled a spider's web. 

"You idiot, you're dying this isn't a time to joke about," I said, but I didn't really sound angry. Thalia laughed again.

"I'm always dying praetor, you just cant see it because it's on the inside," She mumbled, her eyes drooped and she groaned, slumping forward. I reached out to catch her, supporting her with my own body.

"Thalia? Thalia!" I yelled in her ear, but got no response, her body felt lighter then usual and she seemed smaller, more fragile. Jason ran over to help me as I lifted her up. As if on cue the paramedics rushed in with a stretcher, me and Jason carried Thalia over and laid her down on the stretcher. Thalia groaned, but when they tried to roll her away she latched one of her hands onto my wrist. I blushed lightly, but she refused to let go even in her semi conscious state. It ended with me in the back of an ambulance next to Thalia with her hand clamped onto my wrist. 

 

I shivered at the flash back. Thalia was fine now, even if she was slightly color blind, she was fine. I took a deep breath. Kids dodged me on the hall, probably afraid that I'd do to them what I did to Dickface. Some kids even jumped out of the way, like if they touched me they'd be poisoned. I rolled my eyes, this wasn't exactly new. She gently supported me. Finally I made it into my classroom, sitting down, obviously late. Yet no one called attention and even the teacher seemed to understand that I was late for a reason because he didn't give me a tardy slip and I ducked down and tried to calm my nerves.


	15. Hospitals, Prisons for the sick

Thalia's POV

I've been in the hospital for five freaking days. I am getting sick of these walls and the smell. I am especially getting sick of all the doctors. It seems the better I seem to be doing the more doctors watch me, like they're just waiting for something to go wrong. Like wtf, i'm a person not a wifi server I don't break every two days. At least they let Reyna stay with me at night. When she's gone during the day my nightmares are only getting worse. I can't really describe the level of horrors I face in dreamland now, possibly it's a side effect of the major knock to the head I took, but if that's the case they should've picked it up when they were seeing if I had any mental disorders from the crash. Yeah, I already had testing for that, probably doesn't surprise you all that I've been diagnosed with depression, but in all reality I don't give a crap what all these doctors say, I want out of here!

So you probably remember me mentioning that Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Nico, and Will were in town. Well they have decided that whenever Reyna is in school it's their 'turn' to look after me. Which usually is just have a group of demigods creepily watch me while I have nightmare after nightmare and wake up screaming. Thankfully for my sanity, they have recently decided to take "shifts" so that it's not an entire group of demigods watching me, just one. Unfortunately right now it's Annabeth's shift.

Now don't get confused, I love Annabeth. She's like the sister I never had, and is one of my closest friends, but she is absolutely the worst person to talk to after having a nightmare. She either overthinks it, dismisses it as just a dream, or no matter how bad it was she has one to top it. She's not so good at reading people's emotions. I mean it's like talking to a robot. 

As normal, or the new normal I was getting accustomed to, I woke up and sat bolt upright. Gasping for air and biting back a scream, Annabeth glanced up from her book.

"You alright?" She asked and I shook my head to clear it, trying to catch my breath. In my last dream my mother had been strangling me while all my friends screamed about worthless I was so yeah, happy thoughts.

"Fine," I muttered and took a calming breath. Annabeth rose an eyebrow.

"I doubt you're right if you're screaming Reyna and Jason's names in your sleep," She said and I felt my face flush slightly. The door opened, as if on cue, and Piper walked in with a bag slung over her shoulder.

"What's this about screaming names in sleep?" She asked and placed her bag down at the end of my bed. I turned a brighter shade of red. 

"Thalia had another nightmare," Annabeth said the word 'another' like it was a worrying occurance and not a fact of demigod life. Piper frowned and looked over at me with knit eyebrows.

"Another one of the nightmares you refuse to tell even Jason and Thalia about?" she asked and I looked out the window to avoid the worried looks my friends were giving me. 

"Come on Thalia, you've got to tell someone sometime," Annabeth muttered and put a hand on my shoulder. I closed my eyes, holding back the flood I could sense building. I was not going to dump my stupid problems on any more people I was not going to turn into my mother. 

Piper sat down beside me and gently wrapped an arm around me reassuringly. "Thalia, I promise you that whatever it is we'll understand. We've been through some serious shit, we'll get it." She said and I knew that I had finally reached my breaking point. I was about to blow. Piper, bless that girl's heart, seemed to understand and gently lifted my face to look at her. "We're here for you to dump whatever's bugging you on, that's what friends are for." 

I broke. I couldn't keep those nightmares bottled up forever, I was just glad Reyna wasn't there. The last thing I needed to do was dump more onto her shoulders. "I-I... The nightmares... they just keep getting worse. I never have a single second without them unless Reyna is near. In every single one of them everyone is there. You two, and everyone else and all they do is shout and blame me for everything that's going on. I-I'm always at fault somehow, doesn't matter what it is it's always me I-It's.." I managed to get out, but I was barely holding back the tears, I wouldn't let myself cry though. I am Thalia freaking Grace, I will not cry. 

Piper hugged me and Annabeth quickly joined in as I held back sobs and just silently trembled as I felt my eyes sting with held in tears. Piper gently pet my back. "Trust me Thalia, you aren't the only one with dreams like that," I glanced up at the daughter of Aphrodite, her eyes had darkened and I knew she was talking about herself. Knowing what kind of things I'd seen in my dreams I just found myself hugging her tighter. Annabeth looked like she wished she could say something, but didn't know how to.

"Annabeth, you can get going, I've got her until Reyna comes back." Piper whispered gently. Annabeth nodded and carefully collected her things and went out the door, leaving me in Piper's arms as she left. Piper sighed and gave me a sad look.

"You know that I've found the nightmares are better if you sleep with someone beside you," She said and I smiled halfheartedly.

"What made you figure that out?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"I came in early yesterday and caught you and Reyna curled up together in the bed. That was the first time since I was here you weren't either screaming, muttering, or crying in your sleep," She said and I winced, I had known that I screamed and talked in my sleep, but I hadn't known that I cried in my sleep. That wasn't exactly good for my self confidence. But Piper wasn't finished with her analysis, "You were calm, and quiet for once. You were actually smiling, now I'm pretty sure we both know why that is,"

My face turned the same color as a fire truck and Piper chuckled lightly. "Look, my point is, that no matter how bad the dreams get Reyna is always going to come back to you. We all will, remember that. We care about you, and seeing you like this doesn't make any of us feel great, especially when it's our name you scream or our name that you mutter while sobbing. We're here for you," she said and I smiled slightly. This child of Aphrodite always knew what to say, sometimes it confused me how her and Aphrodite were related. She smiled and stood up.

"Thanks Piper, I can see why Jason likes you so much," Now it was her turn to blush and I laughed softly. It was the first time I had laughed in days. "If it doesn't work out between me and Reyna, and Jason dumps you call me," She was blushing more them me now and I laughed again.

"Anyways, It's time for lunch so can I get you anything?" She asked trying to change the subject. I just smirked at her.

"Yeah, just whatever doesn't look like it's processed," She smiled.

"Will do," She playfully saluted before backing out of the room.

 

I woke up screaming, my head aching and lungs stinging. A hand quickly clamped over my mouth and I looked up to meet Reyna's eyes. Her eyes glittered darkly and she smirked playfully.

"Good morning. Glad to see your vocal cords work," she teased and I felt my face turn bright red. Laughter bubbled up from her chest and I soon found myself laughing along with her. The daughter of Bellona always knew how to cheer me up. Maybe that's why I liked her. 

"Hi, when did you get back?" I asked and she shrugged.

"About an hour ago." She said and I massaged my temples. I sat up and leaned back against the wall.

"You seem happy. What's this good news I'm missing?" I asked and she smirked slightly.

"Well, you get out of the hospital tomorrow," She said and I pumped my fist in the air. Finally. "Unfortunately that means you have to go back to school," She finished and I pouted. She laughed softly.

"Have you tried walking around yet?" She asked and I shook my head.

"No because anytime I get up someone is always shoving me back into the bed," She shrugged at my comment, like she wasn't the one who'd been doing the shoving.

"Well, if you feel up for it now, You're allowed to officially," she said and I shot up like a bottle rocket. I felt adrenaline coursing through my veins as I stretched my legs for the first time in a week. I felt like I could go run 50 miles and back. Which as a former hunter I probably could. Reyna smiled, clearly happy to see me so perky. I needed to tone it down, but I couldn't force the smile off of my face.

"Let's go run a marathon," I said and she tossed me a change of clothes.

"First get out of that hospital gown, I can see your underwear." She said and I felt my face turn pink as I walked into the bathroom to change.

I walked out later in a clean black t-shirt with the words "Death is my best friend" printed on the front, and black skinny jeans. She tossed me a pair of sneakers which I quickly pulled on before stretching like I would before a race. Reyna rolled her eyes.

"Come on slow poke, we're going for a walk, " I quickly ran after her. It just felt good to get out of that hospital room, like I had somehow poisoned it with all the nightmare's I had in there. I winced away from the windows as we walked though. I hadn't realized how high up my room was. I suddenly felt dizzy, like the floor would give out under me at any second. I subconsciously stood closer to the inside wall, hoping that Reyna wouldn't notice.

She noticed and knit her eyebrows. "Maybe we should go back, you look a bit pale." I shook my head.

"No, no it's fine. Let's just go down a couple floors, I could use some fresh air," I said, but she looked skeptical. 

"Alright, but tell me if you feel like you're going to faint or throw up," she said. I already felt like I was going to throw up, but not for the same reason she was thinking. We got to the elevator and went down to ground level so that Reyna could take me out into one of the hospital's courtyards. As soon as we were on ground level I felt better and I could barely keep myself from running out the hospital doors and never look back.

We made our way into the courtyard and I took a deep breath of fresh air. You have no Idea how good that felt after being cooped up in a hospital room for a week. My skin was paler then Nico's at this point, and that's saying something.

The courtyard was modest, more like a miniature version of a college quad. A small field of grass lay out before us with green grass and pavement like a plus sign. I sighed and ran down the pavement.

"Thalia wait up!" Reyna yelled after me and tried to catch up, but I was too fast for her. I laughed and quickly changed direction so quickly that Reyna actually almost fell over with the sudden change.

"Come and catch me slow poke!" I teased and I saw the glint in her eyes. 

"Challenge accepted," She said I suddenly realized that I now had a daughter of a war goddess chasing after me.

"Shit!" I yelled and ran as quickly as I could, Reyna hot on my heels. I spun around and jumped over Reyna as she tried to catch up to me, which would've been pretty cool, If she didn't reach up and grab my ankle. Together we went tumbling across the field of grass until she managed to pin me underneath her, her dark eyes glimmering like a starry night sky. 

"I caught you," she teased, "where's my prize," I felt my heart beat hard in my chest and that wasn't because I'd been running. My throat choked up and I tried to swallow it. The look she was giving me reminded me of a snake waiting to strike it's prey. This really should not be as attractive as it is, oh my gods. I felt like my brain was melting through my ears onto the grass beneath us. Her hands pinned my shoulders to the grass and she was straddling me so I couldn't get up, but my hands were free and before I fully knew what I was doing I reached up and grabbed her by the back of her neck. Her lips were against mine and I felt like my entire heart had just exploded in my chest. The best part was she didn't pull away, she actually leaned down and kissed me back, arms wrapping around my shoulders. I inwardly screamed and slowly pulled my face away from hers.

"How's that for a prize," I teased softly and I could feel my face turning pink, hers was already pink and I think this was the first time in history someone had rendered Reyna speechless.


	16. I Hate Heights

Thalia's POV

You probably thought that was the end and It would end all happily with me and Reyna as a couple and everybody was safe and yaay hugs and kisses for everyone. HAHAHAHA no. It did not end that way. I wish it did, but unfortunately it didn't. Reyna and I were still laying out on the quad with her staring at me with wide eyes while blushing the same color as the sunset while I laughed my butt off when I saw it. The glimmer of a monster's talon as one of the doctors walked by. I gently pushed Reyna off and grabbed her by the arm.

"We have to get out of here, now," I said, my happiness from moments before dissolved like alcohol. 

"I know I saw him too, but you're still hurt we can't get out of here yet, not until tomorrow," She said and just like that it was like the kiss had never happened. Like I hadn't finally built up every fiber in my body to kiss the daughter of Bellona. Like I hadn't mentally debated it for hours on end. I inwardly screamed internally, but shoved this to a back seat problem. Monsters first, then relationship problems. 

"I'm fine Reyna, really. I could leave right now." Plus I really don't want to go upstairs and have to deal with the knowledge that I've been sleeping hundreds of feet off the ground and I'd have to do so again for another night. The mere thought made my skin crawl.

"Thalia, I'm nor smuggling you out of the hospital," She said and I sighed.

"It was worth a shot," I said and she rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go back up to the room. I'll stand guard." She said, but at the word up I flinched. She rose and eyebrow, but dragged me by the arm to the safety of the elevator and I was lifted back up into my sky high prison. I chewed my thumbnail, it was all I could do to keep from hyperventilating at the mere thought of being so high up. 

Twenty three stories. That's how high I was. Twenty three stories. That's about 230 feet. Sixty nine meters. Two thousand, seven hundred sixty inches. Wow Thalia, how does it feel to conquer your fear and be up that high? It was fucking terrifying! Thanks for asking! I inwardly screamed as Reyna walked me to my room and made me lay down. I didn't know how I was supposed to sleep or do anything besides obsess over how high I was as I was currently calculating how hard my body would hit the ground if I somehow fell out a window, but as soon as I lay down I was out like a light. 

My dreams weren't the usual 'my friends hate me' dreams I had become accustomed to. They were the ones you always here mortals complaining about. You know when you're falling and falling in your sleep and you wake up in a cold sweat? It was like that except I didn't wake up. I was just endlessly tumbling through the sky.

I awoke finally next morning to Reyna shaking my shoulders. I groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers up over my face. She simply ripped them off the bed.

"Get up, you get out of here today," She said and I suddenly sprang out of the bed and latched onto the wall, remembering that I was several hundred feet off the ground. Reyna rose an eyebrow. "Morning?" She said questioningly, I just tried to swallow the fear that was paralyzing my body.

"J-Just a dream," I muttered to try to reassure Reyna while she picked up her, and my, stuff.

"Well, relax we're almost out of here. Before we go though we have to go pick up your prescription. The pharmacy is apparently on the top floor, so we better get going." I felt the blood drain from my face with the thought of going even higher into the air.

"Alright," I squeaked, but Reyna didn't seem to notice, she looked like her thoughts were elsewhere.

"Keep on alert, no monsters attacked last night and I don't fancy getting killed in a hospital, that'd be quite ironic," she said and handed me a dagger. I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach that formed when my hand grazed hers. She was still pretending that yesterday's kiss had never happened, and I was still unsure of how to take that. Should I mention it? No, at least wait until you get out of a high-rise building. We got into the elevator and Reyna hit the top floor button. 50. Fifty stories in the air. It was getting hard for me to breathe. I clutched onto the railing of the elevator like that would somehow save me. Again Reyna was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice how pale I was turning or how I was having to remind myself to breathe.

We reached the top and I immediately knew I was screwed. Large, fully glass walls went all around the top of the building so that in every direction you could see exactly how easily it would be for you to fall and die. I made a noise like a strangled cat, but Reyna didn't notice and just started off to the pharmacy, forcing me to follow. The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees in the building as I cautiously followed Reyna, I could feel the wind swirling around the tower, trying endlessly to knock it down. I bit back a scream.

"Thalia hurry up!" Reyna screamed at me. I quickly ran after her, not wanting to get left behind. She got the medicine crap I was supposed to be taking for the next couple of weeks, but before we could get out we heard the growl. I grabbed the dagger Reyna had given me and Reyna pulled two more out of her jacket pockets. A large hell hound stood across the floor, its red eyes glowing murderously. The hell hound was big, but smaller then Percy's. More like the size of a taxi then the size of a garbage truck. It launched itself at me and I rose my dagger, but it was fast, like a streak of black lightning. I changed directions, instead of hitting me in the face it wrapped its claws around my legs.

Reyna rushed forward to help me but was tackled from behind by a weird demon with claws the size of a crowbar. She whipped around to face it. I kicked the hell hound off of me, but a second one tackled me from behind, I launched it away and backed up. My head was spinning from the sudden attack coupled with my fear, I had no sense of direction, and barely enough sense to notice that I was surrounded by three hell hounds while Reyna wrestled a demon twice her size. The first hell hound launched itself at me and I side stepped, just in time for the second one to slam me backward. I felt the impact of my body against a window and several pieces of shattered glass embedding themselves in my spine before I tumbled out of the building.

I screamed. A loud, high pitched girly scream that made me want to hit myself. I latched my fingers onto the closest thing. Three stories above me Reyna was battling a demon and two hell hounds while I'm here. Hanging by my fingertips with a hell hound's teeth embedded in my left calf. That means I'm forty seven stories off the ground. I'm dead. My entire body was frozen with fear.

"It's okay, just don't look down, don't look down," I muttered and tried to kick the hell hound into the wall to get it to let go. Nope. "Don't look down, don't look down," I repeated. 

I looked down. Another scream tore through my throat and I latched onto the side of the building like a large parasite. I had been in situations like this before, but this... this was a whole new level of scary. My throat constricted and I slowly felt my body tensing and my fingers clawed at the concrete, trying to keep the combined weight of me and a hell hound from falling. The wind swirled around me, mortals screamed, my blood roared, my stomach churned and I turned my head to the side as I puked up my dinner. Suddenly it was silent, I looked up to see that the screeches from Reyna's demon had been silenced and the daughter of Bellona was now looking out the window, her face pale, probably from the thought that I was smashed into the pavement below. 

"Thalia?" she called and I realized from her vantage point I was hidden from view. I didn't have the strength to call out a response, fortunately the hell hound did. He snarled and started to claw his way up further as her attempted to rip my leg off. I let out a small cry of pain and smashed the hell hound's skull into the wall. He went limp and went tumbling down hundreds of feet to his death. I swallowed, blood still pouring from my leg which resembled a punctured tomato.

"Thalia, oh thank gods," Reyna said, spotting me. She crawled out onto the slight ledge just below the window and stretched a hand towards me. "Can you reach?" she asked.

I didn't respond, my face had gone white as I realized that I was literally hanging by my finger nails. I couldn't move, my throat was choked, I was paralyzed. Reyna called my name again, but I couldn't respond, I couldn't even look up at her. My muscles had locked up. I heard rustling and then a warm hand was clamped over mine and my body was dragged upwards by Reyna. I involuntarily clutched onto the roman like a three week old sloth, and she lifted me into the safety of the hospital where we both lay on the floor panting for a solid five minutes.

"You're afraid of heights," Reyna finally said, sounding just as surprised as anyone else in the history of ever. 

"Shut up," I muttered and curled into a ball. I couldn't think properly still, my blood was roaring through my ears.

"Well that explains why you've been acting so jumpy," she muttered and pulled herself upright. She looked over at me, bloody, scratched up, and utterly terrified and ashamed that I was afraid. "Come on, we better get out of here before the mortals find us," neither of us noticed the boy watching us from the corner, and neither of us saw him following us out of the hospital.


	17. Dickface Finds A Weapon of Mass Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna has mixed feelings for Thalia, and Dickface is a surprisingly good fighter

Reyna's POV

A daughter of Zeus. Afraid of heights... Seriously?I mean, I know that Thalia can't help it, but talk about being ironic. We made our way through the streets of downtown back towards the school building, me half supporting Thalia as blood pulsed from her leg from the stupid hell hound bite.

"I swear to the gods, you need to stop almost getting yourself killed," I muttered and she laughed with what sounded slightly like a hurt tone. She winced as her leg touched the ground, her lips curling into a grimace. I tried not to stare as her lips too long, but I couldn't stop thinking about yesterday. I had her pinned directly under me, until her eyes had taken on that mischievous glimmer that somehow scared me and kissed me. She had kissed me, and I didn't know what to do now. As far as my knowledge went I didn't know what to do. Relationships were an alien concept to me and every time I tried to articulate my feelings toward the daughter of Zeus my mind melted like butter. We made it to the dorms and I tried to pull her through the hallways without anyone noticing, but then a voice startled me from behind.

"You probably thought you'd seen the last of me," I spun to see that stupid idiotic child of nemesis standing no more then two feet away from me and Thalia. Thalia's eyes turned murderous and she tried to lunge at him, but I caught her. With that leg wound she was in no condition to fight. Dickface laughed, his eyes had a crazy gleam in them that reminded me of Octavian.

"What is it Thalia? You got a Roman holding your leash," Her eyes darkened, like a black hole.

"No one holds my leash Ass," she growled, but I grabbed her by the back of the shirt.

"Right now I do, you are in no condition to fight. I'll handle this one," I said and leaned her against where she grunted with the effort of pulling herself up, but I just gave her my death glare until she gave up. Dickface sneered,

"Praetor, I've heard of your skill and achievements. You strangled Orion with Athena's shield, fought the wolf Lycaon, and destroyed many armies and monsters. They claim your skills are unmatched by any beast or demigod. I don't believe that's true, they just didn't try hard enough," He gave me his sadistic smile, but I just stared at him, deadpan.

"Was that supposed to intimidate me? Oh no, weird revenge kid will get his ass whooped, aaaaagh," I said and he narrowed his eyes and charged, I whipped around like a flying guillotine and slammed into him full force. He pulled out a large celestial bronze blade and swung it at my middle, I caught it on the hilt of my dagger, spinning and kicking my leg under his, so that he was sent crashing downward. Unfortunately that idiot was really freaking fast, with the speed of a viper he was back on his feet and his blade was inches from my stomach, I barely managed to dodge the blade, but he moved with the speed of a demon and I found myself facing slash after slash from that weapon. Growling in rage I grabbed my dagger and lunged, upward, he fell for it and slashed upward to try to defend himself, but I sailed over him and slashed at his back, managing to get him in the left shoulder. He yelled and in a blur of cold golden light I suddenly felt a stinging pain across my left arm, I switched hands and smacked him across the nose with the tip of my dagger.

"Ready to give up and go crawl back to your spider hole?" I snarled, but he just spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Never bitch," he yelled and we both lunged, metal clashing, the sickening sound of celestial bronze against imperial gold. A nauseous feeling filled me as his blade spun, I noticed I hadn't before about the sword, it had an odd, heavy quality that normal celestial bronze didn't have, like the bronze wasn't pure, but rather mixed with another metal. Steel. I gulped and parried the blade again, I needed to end this quickly, I didn't want to kill this guy, but he was going for that even if I wasn't. I slashed towards him again, and he reached upward to meet my blade. I let the force of his own blade launch the butt of the dagger into his forehead. He grunted, dazed, and I took my chance. I swatted his sword into the air, catching it behind my back. He looked outraged, his nostrils flared and lips twisted into a snarl.

"AAAARGH!!!" he yelled and body slammed me with the force f a line backer. I was launched backward like a toy into the brick wall of the dormitories, agony burst through my stomach and I knew something was wrong, but I didn't have time to figure out what. He had recovered a weapon, my dagger, and his sword now lay a couple inches from my left hand, blood poured down my left arm, making my hand slippery as I gripped it's hilt. 

"You know," the dickhead muttered from across the courtyard. "there's an interesting history about that sword. It once belonged to a son of Hermes. He was a true revenge child, the gods wronged him, his father abandoned him and forced him to live with a mother that only had half a mind. He was forced into doing quests for gods who never cared about him, and watch the only one he had ever loved be stolen from him by the gods. He did what he knew she would've wanted and tried to turn the gods to rubble. That son of Hermes' name was Luke, and that was his sword. Backbiter, because sometimes mortals are just as wicked as monsters and need to be dealt with in the same way." He lunged at the spot where I had lay, but his monolougeing had given me the chance to move. His dagger sank hilt deep into the wall and I raised the sword over my head, standing beside him.

"You're the monster, and I should send you to Tarturus like one," with that I knocked him over the head with all of my strength. He crumpled like a rag doll. I heaved for breath and pinned the sword to my belt, yanking my dagger out of the wall, and kicking the boy away. I glanced at the sword. "So, you're the infamous sword? Well, you're mine now," I limped over to Thalia, my side burned, but I forced myself not to look. It would probably just make me feel worse. Thalia was barely even still awake from the blood loss. Grunting with pain I picked her up and dragged her to the dorm room. I coughed and pretended I didn't notice the red stain from it. I quickly bound her leg with bandages and poured nectar down her throat before I started to feel light headed. 

"Ugh," I pressed a hand to my temple, my side made a flare of pain in protest and I cried out, clamping a hand over it. Something, hot, wet and sticky covered my fingers in seconds. I stared at the blood covering my fingers when suddenly a voice startled me.

"Reyna, oh gods," I turned to see Thalia awake, and staring at me with wide eyes, "Your side," with that my limbs went numb and the world pitched sideways. "Reyna!"

Thalia's POV

There was so much blood. I mean there was a lot of blood. Like a fricking vampire banquet amount of blood. It covered her side and left arm, they weren't closing either. I pulled myself out of bed, even though my leg still ached and pulled Reyna up, placing her on the bed in my place. A large chunk of brick was lodged in her back, but Reyna didn't even seem to notice. Quickly, I wrapped my fingers around the stone and pulled it out of her side. The roman howled in pain, her skin felt feverish. I quickly poured nectar over the wound, but it was deep and I could only guess what organs were damaged. I forced her to swallow a square of ambrosia. The blood flow was stopping and the skin on her arm was already knitting itself back together. Reyna had already lost a lot of blood though.

"You're going to be okay. I promise," I muttered and placed a hand on her forehead, but the Romans eyes were closed. Within ten minutes I had fed Reyna all of the godly food she could handle at once and bandaged up her side and arm, but the usually tan girl's skin was pale and her breathing uneven. Swallowing down the fear bubbling up in my chest there was a knock on the door. I slowly got up and my leg sent a spike up my spine. I grunted and grabbed the chair for support. Reyna didn't stir, she was far too tired to notice the noise. That's when I saw the sword and all color drained from my face.

Backbiter. I thought that sword was supposed to have been destroyed.I shivered, Reyna had it clipped to her belt, but I carefully removed it. The blade itself seemed to steam, it shouldn't exist. No hero ever uses a sword against a mortal, how had Reyna gotten it. As far as I remember back at the hospital she only had a dagger, so where on earth had a Roman officer gotten an outlawed Greek style weapon with an evil name and story that it was a bedtime story for little kids at camp half blood to scare them into behaving. The knock came again and I shoved the sword under the bed, before hobbling over to the door and prying it open.

Frank Zhang stood on the other side of the door. The roman looked quite awkward and embarrassed, but when he saw me standing at the door with bandages, blood stained clothes, and monster dust in my hair he looked surprised.

"You're home, and look freshly injured. What happened?" he asked, his Canadian accent making him sound even more awkward. 

"Monsters attacked us at the hospital, dickface somehow escaped and followed us. He attacked Reyna, so now I'm the one who's healthier." I explained as quickly as possible. Frank glanced over me to see Reyna laying unmoving and limp in the bed. He paled.

"Is she..?" he trailed off and I shook my head.

"She's alive for now, but I'm not sure how long. Could you go call Will? I'm no child of Apollo, plus I have my own injuries." I managed to get out, Frank nodded and ran down the hallway. I closed the door and quickly grabbed backbiter, careful not to cut myself on it, and slid it safely behind the head board of Reyna's bed before collapsing back into the chair beside the bed. Reyna again, didn't stir. Instead she just lay there, limp, her breath quietly stirring the air around her, I managed a worried smile before I felt my eyes growing heavy. I'd been functioning on pure adrenaline this whole time. There was worried pounding on the door, and Jason's voice yelling for me to open the door, but it sounded far away and I couldn't muster the energy to stand up and open the door. 

"Thalia!" Jason's worried voice yelled, followed by Hazel's softer, calmer voice telling him to move over. I heard the clink of locks turning and the door bursting open just before I sank into a deep, dark, restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thank you so much for reading this and coming on this journey with me. Um I just wanted to quickly establish that I love you guys and I hope that you're all happy. I'm going to try to churn out a chapter every two days sorry if that doesn't work out, but I've got a busy school schedule and its always been a bit stressful. Thank you for reading and as always, please leave a comment.  
> -M


	18. Thalia Actually has a Reason to fear heights

Quick A/N this one might be a bit graphic and violent so if you get triggered easily, you have been warned.

Reyna's POV

I was standing in Bacchus garden, the sun rising slowly in the distant. A voice beside me interrupted my initial thought of 'what am I doing here again?'

"You're back again? I guess that means your still alive. Which is good," I turned to look at thirteen year old Thalia, her dark hair shaggily hanging around her face and her skin looked paler then ever.

"I-What-Where-" I managed to get out before the ghost, or whatever she was interrupted me.

"I guess that its a beautiful garden. Reminds me of Los Angeles," She murmured, her eyes looked like they were a million miles away as I spluttered to get a sentence out.

"You-I I just... You're afraid of heights?!" I managed to splutter out and Thalia just cracked up laughing. The laugh didn't reach her eyes though. Even with a huge childish grin on her face and a gap where her left K9 should've been with a classic kid grin her eyes were full of despair and fear. Like that was permanently stuck to her face like gum.

"I wasn't always Praetor. Just like Percy wasn't always afraid of drowning, and Nico wasn't always afraid of the dark. It came with circumstance and situation," she said, sounding much older then a thirteen year old. 

"What happened?" I found myself asking and the permanent sad look on her face became sadder. I almost told her to forget I asked, but she just turned to me and offered a hand.

"I'll show you," She said and cautiously I took the little girl's hand. Our surroundings inverted like it was being sucked into a black hole and I new place took its place. A large building, apartment building, in the middle of what looked like down town LA. We stood on a high terrace, but eleven year old Thalia stood on the terrace, unaffected by the boggling. Thirteen year old Thalia had somehow faded, leaving me alone on the terrace with an eleven year old who definitely would question how a strange teenager had gotten on her balcony. I was about to try and run into the apartment behind me, but then I heard soft cooing noises coming from where Thalia stood and I looked over the girl's shoulder to see she was holding a tiny baby version of Jason. Tiny Jason's blonde hair was sticking up in all directions as he reached out trying to grab Thalia's nose. The little girl laughed softly. Even at age eleven she had that same sad look to her, like she was always grieving, but plastered over that was a smile full of adoration and love that she looked at her little brother with. Jason gripped Thalia's shirt and reached up to try to grab her nose again.

"Jason stop," she said and gently pushed the baby over. Jason just looked up at her with large blue eyes. Neither of the siblings seemed to notice me, suddenly a voice snarled across the terrace.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" I spun to see a woman with long curly blonde hair standing at the door way to the Apartment the family obviously owned. Her hair was the same blonde as Jason's and her eyes the same blue, and compared to me, a seasoned demigod veteran she looked about as dangerous as a fruit fly. However, to a young eleven year old who had no idea how to use her powers and only the faintest Idea of what she was she would look pretty terrifying. She was tall, almost six feet and her blue eyes were cold and hard. She stood unsteady with a beer bottle clenched tightly in her right hand. She surged toward the siblings and Thalia quickly grabbed Jason, shoving him behind her as she stood to face the woman I assumed to be her mother.

"I thought that maybe Jason should be able to play outside where there aren't broken beer bottles lying around and he could hurt herself!" Thalia snarled, standing defiantly before her mother. The woman sneered and glared Thalia in the eyes.

"I AM YOUR MOTHER," she roared and Thalia flinched, "you don't get to talk to me like that!" with that she rose her hand to swat Thalia, but Thalia caught her hand.

"Mother's don't hit their kids! I'm more Jason's mother then you are lady!" she growled and her mother's eyes narrowed into slits.

"BITCH, UNGRATEFUL CHILD," she yelled and cracked the beer bottle hard over Thalia's head. I felt myself surge forward.

"No!" I yelled, but none of them noticed me. None of them cared. I jumped forward and tried to rip the bottle out of the woman's hands, but my fingers passed clear through it. My stomach dropped to my toes as Thalia yelled in pain, stumbling blindly away from her mother, and tumbling over the railing. I ran forward, desperate to help her even if for some reason I couldn't. She held onto the edge of the balcony by the tips of her fingers, fear over taking her face. A shard of glass had impaled itself directly above her left eye and blood was dripping down her face as she held on desperately by her finger tips to the edge of the building.

"Jason, get inside!" she yelled and baby Jason crawled away from his swaying drunk mother and into the Apartment, soon followed by a screaming mother. They left Thalia, who certainly had no Idea how to fly like Jason could and was trembling as she clung onto thew edge of the building. Somehow she seemed to be able to see me. She reached up desperately. "Please," she begged, dangling thousands of feet over the streets below. I wasn't even the one hanging by my fingers and I now understood perfectly well why Thalia hated heights. I tried to grab her hand and pull her up, but as soon as our skin made contact I found myself back in Bacchus' garden, holding hands with the ghost of thirteen year old Thalia. I jumped backward, goosebumps racing up and down my spine.

"You understand?" she asked and I again spluttered for words. Feeling cold and hot at the same time, the garden spinning around me and giving me vertigo.

"She, you, how did you make it out?!" I asked and the barely teenaged Thalia smiled sadly.

"I eventually halled myself up over the side," she said, her eyes distant again, probably reliving a thousand memories of horror filled terror. I shivered violently.

"Remind me never to take your hand again," I muttered and she laughed.

"I do suppose that was a little insensitive of me, but you did ask, and be careful what you wish for." she said, sounding like a school teacher scolding a troublesome kinder-gardener. "I hear you recently came into the possession of Backbiter," she said softly, her voice tired suddenly.

"You mean the sword I got from the idiotic son of Nemesis?" I asked and she nodded.

"The boy's name was David. The sword belonged to Luke," she said and I nodded.

"He was your friend right?" I asked and she nodded.

"We were on the run, and we both had a strong hatred for the gods. Luke, unfortunately, grew too cold, too hateful. I had my own healthy hatred of the gods that all demigods carry after a certain amount of their bullshit, but Luke took it too far. Who knows, if the whole Tree thing hadn't happen and I had grown up in camp half blood I might have been on his side. My point is Reyna, Luke made some poor decisions that led to the creation of that unholy weapon. Make sure that none of your friends go down that path again, because some might. They've been through too much, they're bitter. You're bitter. You have that sword for a reason, don't follow Luke's path." Thalia warned me, before she faded into mist, leaving me alone in Bacchus' Garden.

Thalia's POV

Blood roared in my ears and I heard voices around me, sounding very worried and some even sounded like they were grieving.

"She won't wake up. I don't know why, but she seems to be determined to sleep until the next ice age," a boy's voice muttered and one, closer to me spoke.

"Why don't we just wake her up, she keeps asking for her, maybe she could help,"

"I think you're probably right Piper, but she's exhausted. She'll wake up in her own time and if we woke her up now she'd just collapse again a couple minutes later, she's too physically and emotionally drained," the first voice said and I responded by groaning and forcing my eyes open. I lay on my bed in Reyna's dorm, my leg propped up on three pillows and an Ice bag on my forehead. I groaned again and reached up to pull off the ice bag, but a hand slapped me away.

"Ow!" I complained, but Annabeth's face came into view, looking relieved.

"You can complain about being in pain later. Thank the gods you're alive," she said and I just pushed the ice bag off of my face and dropped it on my throbbing leg instead.

"You can thank them later, how's Reyna doing?" I asked and tried to sit up only to be pushed back down by my brother, Percy, and Nico all together.

"She'll be fine once she wakes up!" I heard Will call from the other side of the Demigod dog pile while I gasped for air.

"Okay! Okay! I'll stay down! Get off I can't breathe!" I choked out and the demigods clambered off of me. My head pounded now and I reached up to rub it as Annabeth put the ice pack back on my forehead. "Zhang! Why the hell is everyone in here? I thought I said call Will, not the entire twelfth legion," I called even though the Chinese boy wasn't in my line of vision I knew he was in the room. Piper and Hazel carefully propped me up with pillows so I could see what was going on.

Reyna lay a few feet away, an Ice pack siting on her bandages which had been redone and some of the color had returned to her face. She groaned half consciously.

"Thalia..." she mumbled before going quiet again and sinking deeper into sleep. I felt my face flush but only Will and I seemed to notice what she had said.

"Don't blame, if it weren't for him Reyna would be dead and you'd probably be close to it," Piper scolded and I just tried to not look like I'd almost fallen fifty stories.

"What exactly happened?" Annabeth asked me, looking relived that I was awake, so I did my best to explain, leaving some details out, like my paralysis of fear from that height and Backbiter, just mentioning that Reyna and Dickface had a pretty big fight.

"So, that's how I ended up here," I finished and for a minute no one spoke, and it was silent besides their breathing. Annabeth was pacing worriedly.

"So you got attacked by a bunch of monsters at the hospital? That sounds like a planned attack. Hell hounds hunt in packs, but I've never heard of a demon like the one you fought," She said, pacing. Percy didn't look quite as convinced.

"Thalia is a child of the big three so she naturally does attract more monsters and Reyna is like an amplifier of Demigod energy," Percy muttered, probably just trying to convince us that we weren't on the brink of another war, but we all knew better then that. Grim looks passed between demigods. A sudden disturbance shattered the feeling of unease as Reyna shot bolt upright in the bed, gasping and eyes wide like she'd just come from underwater. She startled Nico and Jason who'd been sitting next to her so bad that they smacked their heads together. The tension eased and everyone laughed.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," I called over to my Roman friend who was smiling slightly at the two demigods with aching heads. She looked at me, looking almost as relieved as I felt that she was alive, but a strange look was in her face as well. As if she knew something that I did, but didn't remember. If that makes sense. She tried to get up but froze, pain evident on her face and she pressed a hand to her side, Will gently pushing er back in the bed.

"Not so fast, Praetor. You are under bed rest for at least two days," He said and I laughed and started to get up, Annabeth shoving me back down.

"That goes for you too," She said and I stuck my tongue out like a five year old. Reyna's face twisted in amusement.

"You look better," She commented and I couldn't resist the opportunity.

"Never as good as you," the flirt was weak, but I finished it off with a wink and earned a blush across the daughter of Bellona's face. The other demigods were too busy joking around with each other to notice, but a certain daughter of Aphrodite smirked, clearly not as oblivious as our other friends. Will looked as the clock and I followed his gaze.

"Jesus it's ten a'clock already? It was only eleven when me and Reyna got back from the hospital," I said and Will rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and you would've been out longer if I hadn't showed up in less then ten minutes," He said and rose to address the entirety of demigods gathered in our dorm room, "This is enough excitement for these two today. Jason, Frank I'll bunk with you guys tonight in case there's an emergency. Piper, could you stay here and make sure that Thalia and Reyna are okay?"

Will took charge quickly, and as soon as he did, no one argued, except occasionally Nico.

"Sure," Piper said, that child of Aphrodite gleam in her eye that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"Good, everybody else out. These two need to rest," Percy and Jason tried to protest, but Annabeth just grabbed both by the collar and dragged them out the door. Will did a final check up on Reyna and gave her a couple Painkillers, before starting to pack up his medical stuff. He looked over as Piper.

"Call me if you need anything," he said before picking his things up and swinging his things up over his shoulder.

"Alright Will. Trust me, at the first sign of trouble I'll call. Don't worry, and get some rest," she told him and Will nodded before leaving the dorm and closing the door quietly behind him. For a few awkward moments the room was silent. Then Reyna let out a soft sigh and pulled the covers up over her face, unfortunately I knew what waited for me as soon as I closed my eyes. Piper waited a couple minutes, until she thought that Reyna was asleep and then jumped into my bed beside me.

"So there's something going on between you and Reyna?" She asked, a playful gleam in her eye as I inwardly groaned. Screw this girl and her Aphrodite vodoo. 

"I thought you already knew that," I tried to play her off, but she rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean. Spill, now," She said and I awkwardly told her about what had happened yesterday in the courtyard. She grinned from ear to ear, eyes flashing in a way that made me feel uneasy. I'd seen this girl fight before and she may have been a daughter of the love goddess, but she kicked some pretty sweet ass. 

"Oh my gods that is so cute," she squeaked and I felt my face flush. 

"I-I guess so, but she hasn't mentioned it and I don't know if I should bring it up, or just pretend it didn't happen. I-i uh," I stuttered out, but Piper gave me a serious look.

"Thalia look at me. I may not know Reyna as well as I would like too, but I do know what emotions look like on anyone's face no matter how hard they try to mask it. Reyna likes you back, even if she doesn't want to admit it, or doesn't fully understand what to do about it." with that she stood.

"I'm going to run and get my stuff, please don'y hurt yourself while I'm out," she muttered, before disappearing out the door. I lay there for a couple moments, unsure of what exactly to do. Reyna rolled over in her bed, face towards me. Her eyebrows were knit and she appeared to be having a nightmare. I bit my lip, and considered waking her up, but she looked exhausted, so instead I stood, ignoring the pounding in my leg and walked over and climbed into the bed next to her. She stirred and slowly blinked her eyes open.

"Th-Thalia, what?" she muttered tiredly and I gently held a finger to my lips, tucking the blanket tightly over her frame.

"You looked cold," I lied, but Reyna didn't send me back to my bed, instead she just let me gently wrap my arms around her, looking a little too tired to argue. A smile tugged at the edges of her lips as she fell back asleep with my arms gently warming her.

I smiled, maybe Piper was right. I held Reyna gently for about an hour and no nightmares bothered the girl again as I gently found myself playing with her hair and giggling at her sleeping form. I never would've guessed the praetor of New Rome drooled in her sleep. Eventually I fell asleep beside her, with my arms gently protecting the Roman Praetor from the nightmares I didn't understand were about me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have now published another Theyna fanfic. This one is set in a Pirate AU, if you like this one you should go check out my new one.


	19. Fuck it

Reyna POV

I awoke to something warm pressed against my face and wrapped around my body. For a moment I didn't want to move. It felt safe, warm, and calm. Then I felt the warmth around me move. Someone was playing with my hair and I could feel the someone's heartbeat through their clothes. Slowly I opened my eyes only to discover my face was buried into Thalia's shoulder, the daughter of Zeus smiled softly at me and ruffled my hair.

"Morning sleepy head, seriously you slept like a rock," She said and I felt my cheeks grow warm, she gave me her classic evil grin and kissed my forehead. I froze and my brain suddenly felt like mush, goose bumps rushed down my spine and my head was spinning. I swear to the gods this girl is ruining my life.

"I-I uh," I stuttered out and tried not to blush more, but too no avail. Thalia laughed, a certain gleam in her eyes that made the hair on the back of my neck tingle. Thalia suddenly turned serious, her eyes darkening.

"Listen, uh I need to ask you a couple questions before miss Mclean wakes up," She started and I suddenly remembered how to clear my head.

"Sure, but first, I need to tell you something." I interrupted and she nodded, looking at me curiously. I took a deep breath, mentally debating this, but I needed to get it out. I needed to get it out, clear to her so it would stop devouring me from the inside. Gods, if this is how it feels to love someone how do people ever stand it, it feels like I'm about to blow. My stomach churned and I looked up to meet the eyes of Thalia grace, and decided that maybe this burning feeling in my chest and blender like feeling in my gut were worth it. I opened my mouth to speak, and a voice interrupted us.

"Don't mean to be rude, but is Beauty Queen awake yet?" A voice asked and standing at the doorway was none other then the boy who was supposed to be dead, Leo Valdez.

"Valdez?" Thalia asked, looking surprised if not slightly annoyed, she leaped to her feet with the grace of a cat. Her feet, even bandaged and heavy, made no noise on the floor as she walked over to Leo as if she expected him to dissolve into smoke. I managed to sit up, even as my side burned painfully. Thalia smacked Leo across the face.

"Ow!" He complained and Thalia slapped him again, "OW!"

"That's for making everyone think you were dead, dick!" Thalia said and he smiled sheepishly, rubbing his-now red-cheek.

"Well sorry, but I had to go find a goddess and get her off an island. Also I tried to see you guys last night, but Will said it was too much and you two had just been in a fight," He glanced around Thalia and grinned at me. "Hey Reyna, nice bed head!" I glared the son of Hephaestus down.

"Whatever, Piper is still going to kill you," She said and walked over to Piper, who was asleep in Thalia's abandoned bed. The girl looked exhausted and had the covers pulled up over her head. "WAKE UP!" Thalia yelled in the daughter of Aphrodite's ear, she made a noise like a dying pigeon and fell out of the bed, we all cracked up laughing. Piper shook her head and cussed Thalia out using some words that definitely weren't charm-speak. 

"Alright alright, I couldn't resist!" Thalia said, holding up her hands in surrender and a crazy grin on her face that reminded me of an over excited puppy. "But hey, someone's here to see you," she moved aside to where Leo was still laughing, leaning against the door frame as he laughed his butt off. Piper stared at the son of Hephaestus before tackling him.

"I knew you weren't dead!" She announced and Leo laughed, hugging her back.

"I missed you too Beauty queen," Thalia smirked at the reuniting friends, and although the scene was touching I can admit I was glad when Thalia shoved them into the hall and closed the door behind them, leaving us alone in our dorm. She sighed and looked over at me.

"So, what were you going to tell me?" She asked me and suddenly a feeling of childlike nervousness and fear crept over me. My courage had, for once, abandoned me and I knew I couldn't tell her. No yet at least, I would explode if I tried. 

"I forgot, you go ahead with what you were going to ask me about," I said and Thalia didn't look quite convinced, but shrugged anyway.

"If you're sure," Her face turned deadly serious, and a look of despair and pain filled her eyes that reminded me too much of the thirteen year old ghost version of Thalia that was always following me around in my dreams, I almost backed away from her. She reached behind my head board and pulled out the sword I had stolen from Dickface. 

"Where on earth did you get this?" She asked, her eyes darkening as she held the blade. It glittered coldly in the weak light coming from the window. I swallowed.

"Our favorite child of Nemesis tried to run me through with it," I said and she shivered slightly.

"Did he happen to mention where he got it from? This weapon was supposed to have been destroyed. No hero would ever use a blade against mortals, no matter how annoying they are, and all demigods know what happened to it's last wielder, they'd have to be crazy to try and use it, or desperate. Or both," I think she was talking to herself at the end, but I could see the fear building in her face. Gently, I reached out and took the sword from the daughter of Zeus and lay it across my lap, the blade felt icy cold against my fingers, but I willed it to become smaller and it steamed slightly, but I forced it to obey my will. Slowly it shrank into a small dagger, the bronze and steel glittering angrily like It didn't like being forced into a different form.

"Thalia, it's just a weapon, and it's here for a reason. It's a reminder not to go down that path, please. Keep it, it may have a shady past and an awful ability, but sometimes you have to take something evil and make it good. It isn't the weapon that kills Thalia, it's the wielder," I said and gently pressed the dagger, Backbiter, into her hands. She stared at me like I was crazy, which I probably was, but slowly clasped the hilt and put it in a dagger sheath. She gave me a look like a frightened animal with big blue eyes.

"Are you sure?" She asked me and I smiled, determined to seem confident. 

"Of course," I said and she nodded. She sighed and scratched her neck awkwardly.

"Uh, well. Hate to change topics so suddenly, but about what happened back in the hospital court yard I, uh," Her cheeks took on a pink tint that could've been masked by her freckles if she wasn't so extremely pale. I tried not to laugh, but she was really making it hard with the blush and stutter. Pressing my lips together I tried to focus on what she was saying. "Listen I um, oh gods," Her cheeks flushed a brighter red, and I felt my own mixed feelings for the former hunter stir in the pit of my stomach. She tugged nervously at her shirt collar. "I didn't mean to like, I-I do-on't want to jepa-jeopardize our f-friendship or, u-uh," Her cheeks were practically on fire, and I could barely keep myself from laughing. "Stop laughing, I'm trying to apologize!"

"I'm not laughing," I said and rose my hands in surrender.

"Yes you are, you've got your eyebrows knit and eyes like you do every time you try not to laugh!" She said, blushing a bright cherry red.

I lost it and broke down in a fit of laughter as she just went from red in the face to the blush creeping down her neck line. Slowly pulling myself together I grabbed the daughter of Zeus by the shoulder. It was now or never. I yanked her towards me and kissed her. She was so surprised that her eyes were the size of dinner plates. I gently released her and stared her directly in the eyes.

"You don't need to apologize. I'm the one who should apologize for not doing this sooner," I said and Thalia was giving me a slightly swoony look, her face now so red that she was literally glowing, electricity zapped between strands of her hair and fingers, climbing and falling like an electrical ladder. Her eyes, were still less surprised and she now appeared to be dazed. A stupid grin had spread across her face. I laughed and gently kissed her cheek. "Earth to Thalia!" I called and she blinked her eyes slowly coming out of her daze and blushed more, if that was even possible.

Thalia's POV

"Yes you are, you've got your eyebrows knit and eyes narrowed, like you do every time you try not to laugh!" I said, my cheeks bursting into flames. Reyna cracked up laughing her head thrown back and the blush was only getting worse, making my neck feel warm and creeping down towards my collar. I swallowed nervously, okay, this was not how I had planned that to go. She slowly caught herself and stopped laughing, but still grinning she put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me forward.

Her lips pressed against mine and I felt my entire mind blank and my entire face explode with heat. My heart beat a thousand miles per hour and I felt my brain melted out of my ears. Her lips were so soft and she smelled like hot cocoa mixed with pine. My brain swam and I felt the warmth of her lips leave mine slowly, but I just wanted that moment to last forever. A thousand volts of electricity seemed to be coursing through my veins and I was having trouble remembering my name. I heard her voice, but was only dimly aware of what she said as a stupid grin spread across my face, blood pounding through my face.

"You don't need to apologize. I'm the one who should apologize for not doing this sooner," She said and I still felt like my brain had melted out my ears. Reyna smirked and kissed my cheek, making my skin tingle there and my heartbeat jump in my chest.

"Earth to Thalia!" She called and I snapped out of my daze, face flushing again.

"I-I uh, I-" I stuttered out, she just rolled her eyes and kissed me again, this time I closed my eyes and kissed back.


	20. Finally!

Thalia's POV

My lips were against Reyna's as she gently hugged me close and I slowly let my entire body melt into hers. She gently pulled away from her moment, her cheeks flushed and she was slightly out of breath. She smiled sheepishly.

"I-I uh, kinda sorta put this off for too long," She muttered and It took me a moment to register that she was apologizing for continuously making out with me after just barely hinting at that she liked me and had for a while. My entire face flushed and I slowly pulled away, smiling sheepishly.

"No, no it's fine. I mean I'd wait until the end of the world for you. I-I mean, shit, I-I," I don't know why I suddenly found it hard to talk, but I just spluttered helplessly as I tried to figure out what to say to her. Her eyes smiled at me and I felt my stomach churning. She laughed again and I swear her laugh just melted my entire chest. I swallowed and she kissed me again, which I didn't object to as my face turned a bright shade of pink again, as the door burst open, Piper, Annabeth, and Leo all walking in on Reyna and I's make out session. Annabeth looked pleasantly surprised, whilst Piper made a whistling sound and Leo's entire face just blanched in shock. Reyna and I sprang apart blushing.

"Finally!" Piper said and pumped her fist in the air. "Percy owes me twenty bucks!" I blushed and stood, trying to regain my composure, and failing miserably.

"We-We were just-" Annabeth cut me off with a howl of laughter.

"I knew you two were into each other, but that happened really quickly," she said and high-fived Piper. Leo's face was maybe as red as mine and for once didn't have any smart remarks, which I was grateful for.

"Listen, it's none of you guy's business who we date okay," Reyna tried,but Annabeth just shook her head.

"No way, me and Percy were the star couple for the longest time and had to deal with this, it's your turn," She said, a smug grin on her face as our faces flushed further. Piper was smirking.

"What should their ship name be? Reynalia? Theyna?" She asked and me and Reyna just gave her horrified looks.

"You two should get cleaned up, Will and the boys will be over in about an hour, so you've got time," Annabeth said, taking on a serious expression again. Piper just smirked, her eyes dancing playfully. 

"Yeah, me, Annabeth, and Leo are going on a quick little mission thing so have fun," she said, a humorous gleam in her eyes, "but not too much fun," I tucked my head into my shirt to try to hide the furious flames of human embarrassment licking my cheeks. Reyna wasn't much better off with burying her face in her pillow.

They all laughed and left the room, leaving us alone safe in the quiet room. I flopped back down on the bed, my leg burned in pain, but I wasn't tired enough to sleep and didn't want to get up, and then I noticed the instrument leaning against the wall next to Reyna's bed. A guitar with six strings and it was very worn and old.

"Reyna, where'd you get the guitar?" I asked and she glanced over at it.

"Oh uh, music class requires that you learn an instrument, so me and half the class chose guitar," I nodded and gently reached out and picked up the instrument, laying it across my lap. "You know how to play?" she asked and I laughed.

"I'm the daughter of a TV star, I know how to play most of the instruments that were ever invented," I said and quickly danged my fingers across the guitar neck in familiar chords and notes to prove my point. She looked impressed.

"Alright, then play me a song music girl," she said and shoved me lightly. I laughed and just quietly strummed a few notes, I couldn't really think of words, plus my voice is absolutely terrible. The guitar notes carefully ran from the instrument, though slightly out of tune and awkward sounding from such a beat up instrument the notes still came out clean and soft. I quickly worked the tune into my mind and began harmonizing and creating extra little notes to add as I went along. Think of it as kind of drawing. you start with a basic drawing of shapes and you refine it into something, lets say a person. Once you've gotten the shape how you want, you add the color, and the color is what makes it so life like, it's what makes it strike a chord and feel living deep inside of you. That's what I was doing to the tune of the guitar. Adding the color.

Reyna looked surprised if not completely astonished as I quietly made the notes come out. I imagined that I was drawing a picture of Reyna, and adding the color to paint her personality and beauty and pretty much everything I fell for in her. The song took on a rapid, almost angry tone as I did so, I quickly stopped, and then brought it back softer and sadder so that it quietly rang through the dorm, alone, calm, complete. Reyna clapped, a smirk making its way across her face.

"Not bad Grace, not bad," she said and I tried to look offended.

"Not bad? That was pretty fucking good if I do say so myself," I said and she rolled her eyes.

"Sure it was Romeo," I shoved her lightly and placed the guitar back down, flopping onto the bed again, Reyna, carefully after a moment's hesitation lay down on my chest.

"So what do we do now?" she asked and I shrugged, subconsciously wrapping an arm over her shoulders.

"I guess we wait for the boy to bring us food, and then just, see where the wind takes us. I mean we are demigods. Anything could happen," Neither of us wanted to mention Backbiter or the obvious coming disaster. Neither one of us wanted to say we were probably about to get sucked into another war. No one, no one wanted to be that guy. The one that tells everyone else that the world is coming to the end. Gaia was barely a month ago still. I didn't want another war so soon, but something told me this would be the weirdest one we'd fought yet, and as I held Reyna as we started to drift off to sleep I couldn't help, but think that life was about to get a whole lot crazier.


	21. Everything is fine

Thalia's POV

Will cleared me and Reyna to go back to school the next to me. It was slightly interesting to see all these kids I didn't know the names of come up to me and Reyna, asking us about the attack from Dickface. It was also interesting, according to Reyna they had decided to rearrange our schedules so that we were in all the same classes, because apparently they believed that Reyna was now my body guard. Fortunately that means I get to hang out with her more, unfortunately that means I have to do drama now which for some reason Reyna had signed up to be her elective.

Also ghost mom is back. Yeah you heard me, I was walking though the court yard on my way to science class when I saw her, standing a few feet away, glaring at me. I quickly glanced around to make sure no one was there to see me.

"What the hell do you want?" I growled at the ghost, no longer scared, just angry. The ghost remained silent. "What? Cat got your tongue? Spill it blondie! I'm done being afraid of you," I was mad. Mad at this bitch, she had ruined my life for too long. I was done being a scared little girl, I had friends, I had a life. I had people who actually cared about me, who cares what this bitch said. Who cares if she was my mother. Her eyes were like two pieces of cold steel, but I just met her gaze, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You're finally acting like an adult. Maybe that means you'll stop pretending that you're a big deal now. Or is it hoping too much that you'll admit that you're worth less then the dirt on your feet," she said and I just laughed.

"I already know that bitch, get out of here. I'm not scared of you anymore, you can got stick a spear up your ass," I flipped her off and headed into the school building, feeling more confident then I had in years. I was Thalia Grace. No one can change that.

"You seem to be feeling happy," Reyna said as I caught up to her in the lunch line, her long dark hair falling around her shoulders loosely. I just smirked.

"I'll tell you later. it just feels good not having to worry about Dickface or any of that crap right now. Plus I pawned a pack of gum off a freshman," I said and patted my pocket, she rolled her eyes and smirked. 

"Not bad Grace, unfortunately if you were half as good as you thought you were you would've noticed your fly is down," I glanced down and blushed, quickly solving the problem and hitting her across the shoulder.

"Shut up," She just chuckled lightly.

"I also stole your fries, I glanced at my tray and then glared at the Roman.

"Stealing my first kiss was one thing, but stealing my fries is the last straw Ramirez!" I mocked anger and fired her a smirk, but her expression had suddenly turned serious.

"Wait hold up, that was your first Kiss? I mean I know you were a hunter, but you'd never kissed anyone? Not even before that?" She said and I sighed. Great job Thalia, you brought up that conversation.

"Well," I said defensively, "It's kind of hard to kiss a tree," I tried to ignore the flushing in my cheeks as we sat down at the lunch table across from Jason and Frank who had their heads buried in a science text book. Reyna made a face.

"I-I uh, suppose... that is a technicality.." She said and I shrugged.

"It's fine, I'd never really thought about it much until now," I said, not adding the 'because I had a giant crush on you and tried really hard not to imagine kissing you 24/7' part.

"Still, that's a bit... I don't really know I just thought that before the Hunters you would've been a heart breaker, you're a very attractive person," I fought down a blush at that comment, internally screaming. Brushing a lock of hair behind my ear I watched as a pair of kids walked past our table, laughing and joking. They were oblivious to how hard and dangerous the world really was, happy with their lives that contained no monsters or psycho gods. I felt slightly jealous of them and their ignorant lives. Reyna was listening to something Jason said when I felt the cold prickle of my mothers ghost behind me. I narrowed my eyes and turned to glare at her, she met my gaze and I growled in a low dark voice at her.

"Leave me alone," She just pressed closer, my entire body screamed at me to back down, old childhood instincts and memories told me to cower away from her, they told me to duck, to hide, to cry and break down. My older, demigod instincts fought against those, telling me to fight, get out backbiter and see if the blade worked on ghosts, my fingers itched for the blade, but I held myself, just glaring her down. Reyna nudged my shoulder and I slowly turned to join the conversation, but I felt the cold prickling presence of my mother, even though she'd already left. I knew something was going to happen soon, no matter how hard I tried to prevent it.

 

After lunch me and Reyna had to go to the dreaded Drama class I was now being forced to attend. Reyna had told me that apparently the play they were doing was Peter Pan and all the tech and crap was already taken so I was being forced to try out for a role. That really made me want to skin someone. I hate acting, I hate singing in front of people, and I just plain out hate being on stage. People are always watching you, as if I wasn't already paranoid enough about that. We walked into the school auditorium. I immediately had to duck a flying prop sword and some kid chasing after it frantically. The teacher was just starting to get everyone sorted out, so Reyna said we had arrived directly on time. It was so weird to see so many nerds in one room, all of the kids looked almost too eager. The teacher was an older man, clean shaven and kind of attractive in an older way. His dark eyes sparkled with humor and he fiddled around with stuff, cracking jokes and reminding me a lot of Leo.

"Ah, here we are. Everyone, this is our new student, Thalia Grace, everyone give her a warm welcome," He called and all the kids said a collective "Hi Thalia," In unison that really creeped me out, he started announcing that we were all supposed to sing a few lines of one of the songs to determine what parts he would sign us up for. I tried not to scream that I sounded like a dying whale when I sing, but whatever. Some kids were so eager to go it made me want to throw up, but Reyna had stalked off to where the tech kids were hanging out so I didn't have anyone to talk to as I waited for him to, inevitablly, call my name. Naturally I was the last person to go so no one was paying attention, which I was happy about.

"Thalia Grace," he said and I dragged myself over to the piano where he sat, inwardly groaning. He smiled at me confidently.

"Sir, do I have to I don't even know the words to any of these songs," I said, but he just smiled at me.

"I know, that's why I just want you to sing whatever comes to mind." I almost threw up and inwardly shriveled up and died. I sighed and quickly thought. "Okay, Peter Pan,"

"Uh, Wendy, Run away with me,

I know I sound crazy,

Don't you see what you do to me,

I wanna be your lost boy,

your last chance,

a better reality, yeah

Wendy we can get away,

I promise if you're with me,

say the word and we'll find a way.

I can be your lost boy, 

your last chance,

your everything better plan,

oh, somewhere in Neverland,"

I sang and the room suddenly went quiet. My face flushed and I immediately ducked down behind the Piano like a five year old. The teacher, Mr. Whatshisname, looked perhaps the most surprised and happy out of everyone here.

"That was incredible! Outstanding, I'm definitely considering you for a main roll, Peter Maybe," I felt my face flush again and I stuttered out my words, tumbling out pf my mouth like a waterfall of words.

"I-i can't! Didn't you h-he-ear that I sou-ounded like a dyin-ng w-whale, Oh g-go-ods i c-can't sing Jesus Christ that sound-ded awful," I managed, but he cut me off by raising a hand to his lips.

"That did not sound like a dying whale Ms. Grace. That sounded beautiful and like you truly knew what you were singing about. your voice is strong and beautiful, not to mention powerful, like thunderclaps. Don't doubt yourself," With that he dismissed the class leaving me standing there, dumbfounded, awkward and very, very, very confused about what had just happened. A chill rushed up my spine, and my anger took over my surprise, tumbling into the struggle between the angry Demigod-ness and scared child within me. I growled at me mother.

"Leave me alone," she just laughed.

"You're stuck with me until I can get my revenge on the gods for leaving me like this, revenge against your brother for abandoning me, revenge against all of them and their children." My fingers reached into my pocket and closed around Backbiter's hilt. 

"You're not getting revenge on anyone bitch," I whispered. She just laughed.

"You don't know what I'm planning child, watch your back," she disappeared as Reyna approached me, looking concerned.

"What's up?" She asked and I gripped backbiter tightly.

"My mother appears to be stirring something up, something bad," She muttered and Reyna bit her lip.

"I fear something is causing the ghosts to stir, I thought I saw Octavian earlier," She muttered and I shivered, having heard stories about the crazed augur. Who knew what kind of power he would've obtained in the afterlife.

"This can't be good, I'd keep on your toes if I were you, don't go anywhere unarmed," I muttered to the Roman Praetor. She nodded and shouldered her backpack as I collected my stuff and half finished homework.

"Come on, free period is next and we might get a chance to talk to Nico about this," She said and I rose to follow her. Her eyes blazed with determination, and I got the Idea that she was nervous about something. Together we ran across the campus to find the Ghost King sitting on a bench next to his Boyfriend Will, resting his head on the Blonde's shoulder. He looked so happy I almost didn't want to say anything about the impending disaster. He actually smiled as we approached.

"Hey guys, you look like you're feeling better," Will called as Reyna and I skidded to a halt in front of them. Reyna looked about as reluctant to tell a happy Nico as i did, so for an awkward moment we both just stood there with grim expressions. Nico's smile melted and he suddenly looked serious.

"I sense the presence of something... dead," I knew that he could feel my mothers chilling presence like me, but it seems like she had a goal now, she kept following me around, someone, something had made a deal with her. What it was this time I didn't know. Slowly I spoke.

"It seems something is stirring the ghosts of the underworld, I don't know what they're after, but I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with me," I muttered and Nico's face hardened, my cousin stood.

"There's one right behind you," he muttered and I nodded solemnly.

"That would be my mother," I muttered and he rose an eyebrow.

"It's a mania, one of the worse kinds of spirits," he said, as if i didn't already know that.

"Yeah, and the earth is round, what else is new?" I growled, this wasn't the point.

"No Thalia, It's connected to you, it's literally being dragged around with you, not only that, it seems to have an almost aura that's completely engulfing you," he said, I just rolled my eyes.

"Big whop, it's colorful," I growled and he sighed like I was a small child he was trying to explain complex math too

"Thalia, usually when a spirit and human are bound together the Human ends up going insane," I laughed.

"I'm already crazy, Nico I already know all of this. This isn't about my spirit problem, this about hundreds of thousands of spirits entering the mortal world, something, someone, is waking them up. My mom is only one of the first." I growled. Nico still looked worried and like he wanted to explain something, but bit it back. he sighed.

"I'll look into it, my dad wants me to visit soon anyways. Something about a birthday gift," he muttered and sighed like a godly Parent that actually tried was something to be worried about. it probably was, but I was feeling impatient today for some reason. I shifted my feet. Reyna was giving me a concerned look, but i offered her a smirk as a way of trying to reassure her everything was going to be fine.


	22. Everything is NOT Fine

Reyna's POV

Thalia's been acting weird ever since her conversation with Nico. I mean weirder then usual. As in angry weird. It all started when we were walking back to the room after science, Thalia was clutching her backpack strap like she were attempting to strangle it.

"You okay? You look a bit tense?" I asked Thalia and she shivered slightly like she had just been awoken from a dream, casting me a glance.

"I'm fine Reyna, something just doesn't feel right," She muttered, glancing around as if expecting enemies to pop around the corner. She had been like this in our last two classes as well, glancing around suspiciously. We entered the dorm and I set down my backpack before flopping backwards onto my bed, Thalia sat neatly across from me on hers. I had always admired the easy grace she seemed to carry around with her, her feet never made any sound on the floor, and she moved like a cat. With a lazy elegance that's almost effortless. She let out a puff of air and lay down.

"It feels like I'm missing something important, I'm not sure what, but something. Does that even make sense? I don't know my head feels like an over inflated balloon. Maybe I'm just stressed about all this make up work," she muttered and I sat up to face her.

"You want to go into town and do something to get your mind off of it?" I asked and she glanced over at me with those familiar dark blue eyes of hers.

"Sure, why not. Let's go see if this town has a skating rink, or something," She stood, ditching the blazer and button down. I didn't even have time to register what was happening until Thalia now stood in front of me with no shirt on. My face turned pink and a sound like seal tore at the back of my throat and I felt my heart beat race as I tried to avert my gaze, and found I couldn't move at all.

"I-guh..." I said like an idiot and tried not to stare, and finding it impossible. Thalia just stood there, laughing her butt off. Her black hair tumbled past her shoulders and into her eyes, it spilled over her pale skin like ink on paper. Her skin was milky pale and she was very built in a lithe, runner kind of way. I'm going to pretend that my thoughts weren't in the gutter at the time and just say that I was a hot mess of blushing and with eyes the size of basketballs. She pulled on a green day t-shirt and I was finally able to get my eyes to focus off of her.

I cleared my throat. "I-W-we should ge-et go going," I stuttered out still red in the face.

"You're cute when you're flustered Praetor," She teased and I glared at the daughter of Zeus.

"Please don't start," I muttered and she just laughed.

"It's already started," She said and pressed her face close to mine, making my face start to flush again, "Y'Know I can take my shirt back off if It'd make you, happy," She paused before saying happy, which made tingles involuntarily run up and down my spine. I tried to scoot away from Thalia and save what little dignity I had left, but the daughter of Zeus just pressed me down into the bed, pinning me there and resting her forehead against mine. My throat constricted and my entire face exploded in a blush, she ran her fingers down my arms, over my tattoo which made me twitch involuntarily. She smirked, knowing she'd found something to play with, the look she was giving me reminded me of a cat.

"Praetor, you seem a bit nervous," She purred and ran her fingers over my tattoo again, I shivered and I opened my mouth to try to reply, but my vocal chords still wouldn't work, so I just opened and closed my mouth like a fish. Great job Reyna. Thalia's eyes darkened with an expression I'd never seen her have before and suddenly found her face extremely close to mine. "Tell me Praetor, what's wrong? Cat.." She drawled that word out unnecessarily long, making me shiver again. Oh gods what is this girl doing to me, "got your tonuge?" she asked and I finally lost it. I grabbed her shoulder and pushed her off.

"Okay nope!" I said and walked towards the door. "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nopity, nope nope," Thalia threw her head back and cracked up laughing while I slammed my head against the wall a thousand times.

"I hate you Grace!" I groaned from my position and she just laughed more. Slowly regaining my composure I cleared my face and tried desperately shove the butterflies in my stomach away. unfortunately emotions don't work like that. They stay with you and make you want to scream and rip your hair out, but you can't help human nature. You can't stop from being sad, or angry, or scared. You definitely couldn't stop yourself from being in love, no matter what.

"You know you love me, now come on slow poke, lets get out of here," Thalia called and pulled on her jacket.

"Hold on, I got to get out of this stupid school clothes before the tie chokes me," I muttered and yanked the tie and blazer off. Thalia rose an eyebrow, smirking.

"What? I put on a show for you so now you have to put on a show for me?" She joked and rolled my eyes.

"Unlike you, I'm smart and wear a shirt under my school clothes," I muttered and pulled off my button up exposing a white tank top underneath. Thalia pouted, but I just gave her a slight glare and pulled on my camp Jupiter hoodie. "Alright, lets go," Thalia opened the door and out we flew on our way to the skating rink.

It turns out that in San Francisco that skating rinks are surprisingly hard to find. We literally walked around the city for an hour trying to find the damn thing which resulted in a lot of frustration and Thalia spitting sparks everywhere. Dating a daughter of Zeus you always have a 50% chance of getting either a) set on fire, or b) getting electrocuted. Once we finally found the Skating rink Thalia had already short circuited three stop lights and shocked me twice.

"I can't help it!" She had exclaimed, sure Thalia that's why. I think she just thought it was funny that my braid had stood up on my head so she had tried it again. Anyhow, we finally found it and bought our tickets and rented skates. Apparently the place was a popular hang out for teens, because the place was packed with sweaty kids. One girl sped past only to have a boy with neon green hair chase after her screaming bloody murder.

"Are you sure this is how you want to spend thirty dollars?" I asked and Thalia just laughed.

"You're just upset because you can't figure out how to stand up in those, much less skate in them," She said and I glared at her, before almost falling over. Okay yeah I sucked at these.

"Shut up," I muttered and she just laughed before speeding off around he rink with ease and not so much as a glance back. I sighed as I attempted to follow her, only to wind up falling on my butt and feeling like a total looser. Why did I agree to this again 'because you're an idiot utterly in love with Thalia grace and no will to tell her No.' oh yeah.

"Ugh," I muttered and pulled myself up. Thalia had already completed a lap as she sped by me, sticking her tongue out I had to resist the urge to flip her off. A voice startled me from behind.

"Can I help you?" I spun and found myself face to face with a boy with dark brown hair and warm blue eyes. He smiled, his glasses glinting like two pieces of fallen snow. 

"Uh, no thanks. I was, er, am here on a date," I said as Thalia sped by again, flashing me a crazy smile which made me worry for the safety of the other mortals on the rink. The boy looked confused for a moment, then laughed.

"No, no no. I'm not trying to flirt with you. I work here, I'm an instructor," he pointed to the name-tag on his chest and I suddenly felt like an idiot. I gave him an apologetic smile and he just laughed.

"My name's Kevin," He said and extended his hand, which I shook, it was oddly calloused. He smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Sorry Kevin, you just startled me," I said and he shrugged. 

"Hey it's no problem. Do you have a name Miss?" He asked and I composed myself.

"Reyna, I'm Reyna," I said.

"Nice to meet you Reyna. You look like you've never taken a single step in roller skates, want some help?" He asked and I figured, if Thalia was just going to ride around to expel some excess energy, why the Hades not.

"Alright, skater boy, but only if you promise not to flirt with me while I've got my guard down," I said and he rose his hands in surrender.

"I'm not that kind of guy, honest." he said and i just flashed him a smirk. I'll hand it to the guy, he was very professional and not once did he do anything inappropriate, also he definitely knew what he was talking about. He was able to make it so I could actually skate and didn't fall over every three seconds. It was nothing fancy, not grateful, but it was manageable. 

You should've seen Thalia's face. I meant it when I say she had started to act weird, I accidentally fell on top of Kevin and he was helping me back up when Thalia saw us and came over at the speed of light. She shoved him back with the force of a line backer, her eyes had darkened to almost pitch black and she was visibly shaking with anger.

"Dude back the fuck off of my girlfriend!" She snarled, eyes boiling, the air crackled around her with electricity and I reached out to try to calm her down, but she just shrugged me off, stepping in front of me in a kind of protective way that made me want to punch her. I could take care of myself. 

"Thalia calm down," I growled in her ear, but she acted like she hadn't hurt me. Kevin was picking himself up off the ground, he rose his hands in defense.

"Listen, I was just helping her learn how to skate," he said, but Thalia pressed close to him with sparks flying from her finger tips.

"You wanna go dick-grinder," She snarled and anger flared in Kevin's eyes. Seriously? This was literally the stupidest thing I've ever seen, and I once watched Percy and Jason take turns smelling Leo's dirty socks to see who would pass out first. Don't ask. 

"At least I'm not the one with the obvious anger problems," He growled and Thalia's eyes flared. She shoved him back, slamming him into the railing. We had attracted the attention of everyone else in the building by now and this is the point where Thalia and a mortal got into a fight while I face palmed in the corner. 

Thalia had Kevin in a headlock while he bit her arm. I just thought about how great it would be to sink into the ground right now. This wasn't really how Thalia usually acted, she had always been quick to anger, but never this explosively. She was literally bashing his skull in. Finally apparently Kevin decided he had had enough. He grabbed Thalia by the collar and slammed her into the railing, she grunted in pain and reached into her pocket. I sprang forward, yanking Kevin back just in time and yanked my own dagger out of my pocket. The sound of imperial gold against Mortal steel rocked the room. 

Thalia's eyes looked unfocused and like she was sleep walking. Her apparent anger now looked more like she had been half asleep the whole time. She stared at me with a blank expression and didn't even to notice who was parrying her weapon out of the way. I grabbed her by the front of her shirt and lifted her off the floor, confiscating backbiter while she squirmed and fought me like a child having a tantrum. I escorted her off the skating rink floor and all the way out the door into the middle of San Francisco. I pushed her into an Alley and pushed her into a wall.

"What the actual hell was that?!" I yelled at her, her eyes still looked slightly unfocused.

"Why did you stop me?! He was hitting on you!" I rolled my eyes.

"I can take care of myself Grace, Jesus Christ you almost killed him. What it wrong with you?"

"Oh, so It's me? Of course why did I expect you to be any better then the rest of them. Anytime I try to help someone I always do something wrong!"

"You almost killed a defenseless mortal,"

"He started it,"

"No you started it, you saw a scene, misjudged it and decided that I couldn't judge if a guy was hitting on me or not,"

"Not my fault you're oblivious as fuck and didn't even notice as I shamelessly flirted with you since the very start of this whole thing,'

"/I'm/ oblivious? No good sir, you're the oblivious one,"

"Really, well maybe that's why I saw when you flirted with me from the very start. At least I don't pretend to care about someone and then as soon as they turn their back flirt with some random guy I've never seen before in my life,"

"You can't be serious. I didn't flirt with anyone,"

" See you are oblivious! Also I should've known you'd be just like Luke." She growled at me, her blue eyes didn't show any of the anger that her voice held, again she looked like she was sleep walking.

"You don't mean that," I growled, but she just snarled at me.

"Yeah I do Praetor scumbag," She snarled and tried to push me away, but I just pressed her harder against the wall.

"You aren't Thalia, what have you done with her?" I growled. i'm not quite sure how I knew, but that sleep walking, unfocused look, that voice full of anger, but no belief behind it, this couldn't be her. No I refused to believe it was.

"Oh so now you don't think I'm smart enough to figure out you're a cheating dickbiscuit?" She growled and pushed me down. I fell backward just as a snarl interrupted us.

Across the alley a large monster like a cross between a hell hound and Moose stood there. It snarled and lunged towards us. Before I could even move Thalia launched herself in front of me.

"Thalia, don't be an Idiot!" I yelled, for a moment forgetting the argument from moments ago. Then the ground exploded. Thalia let out a guttural cry and a scene all too familiar enveloped around me. Darkness covered the alleyway, partially a shadow, partially smoke. It got inside my nose and mind, making me cough as scenes of thousands of beatings filled my brain. Imagine downloading a million punches, kicks, and hits into your brain at once. It was basically that. The monster disintegrated in seconds, but Thalia was like the middle of this storm of darkness, and she didn't know how to shut it off. 

"This is impossible," I muttered, not realizing I was speaking out loud, "Nico is the only person I had ever seen do this, and he's a son of Hades. Thalia is a daughter of Zeus, this isn't possible," Thalia must've heard me because suddenly it all shut off and I was left laying on the asphalt feeling like I'd just been run over by a steamroller.

"Reyna?" a soft, scared, confused, tired voice asked and I glanced up to see Thalia standing there, the sleep walking look in her eyes was gone. She looked like she'd just woken from a dream, only to find the nightmare was real. "Wh-what just happened?" She asked.

"I don't know," I muttered and sat up slowly, groaning. My body stung with wounds and bruises that weren't really there. "I was hoping you could tell me," Thalia shook her head looking panicked.

"Where? Where are we? What the hell is up with your nose, Jesus, and I can't. I-I," Her voice faltered and she looked scared, trembling. "I can't remember. it's all a blur. What? I-I, I don't know where I am, what happened, I can't even remember what happened after we got back to the dorm. I, Reyna what happened," I slowly pulled myself up and stood on two unsteady legs, and almost took a nose dive. Thalia caught me, but she wasn't much steadier.

"Look, Thalia I know just as much as you do, we need to find Will and Nico. You just did some underworld magic I've only ever seen Nico do. Be careful." I warned, but she was shaking, her face even paler then usual, but I was relieved. If she didn't remember anything after the dorm that means that the Thalia that tried to kill a mortal wasn't the one I knew and loved. Gently, I closed my arms around Thalia hugged her close as she trembled and was going into shock, gently petting her back.

Thalia's POV

Nothing, I couldn't remember any of it and now here I am, unable to make my brain process anything going on and my body was shutting down. I didn't remember what happened next, which didn't really help, but the next thing I knew I was sitting in a bus seat next to Reyna as she gently hugged and pet my back as I trembled like a five year old. I could feel hot tears begin to fall down my face and I tried not to punch myself. I'm Thalia Grace, I don't cry. I suddenly felt the cold presence of my mother and that was the one thing that was going to push me over the edge of an emotional break down. I started shaking violently as her voice echoed through my mind.

"This is just the beginning. My time is coming soon Thalia, watch your back," I knew my black out and apparent almost killing a mortal thing had something to do with my mothers ghosts, and now I lost my grip on what was real and wasn't. I started to cry, and for once I didn't have the energy, or the will to stop myself. Pain stabbed through my chest as I just broke down. Thalia Grace, the strong, confident fighter with the short fuse was gone. Thalia Bethany Grace, the girl with mental disorders, a messed up childhood, and a broken mind that was shattering as she slowly went insane was here. And she was here to stay a long long time.


	23. I Think I'm Going Crazy

Thalia's POV

When we reached Nico and Will's hotel room I was still shaking and barely able to register what was going on. Reyna gently shook my shoulder and I looked over at her, her dark eyes were worried, if not slightly startled as she gently helped me stand. We walked off the bus and into the hotel where, hopefully, will and Nico would be to help us. Reyna dragged me up three flights of stairs as my heart beat seemed to grow louder in my chest. I remembered the nightmares from the hospital and now it felt like every single one of them was playing over and over each other in my head all at once. My stomach churned and my breath felt labored. Reyna looked over at me with knit eyebrows and stopped walking, gently turning towards me.

"Thalia, It's going to be okay, I promise. No matter what you're going to be okay," She said gently, but again my voice failed me, my legs trembled as they tried to keep me up and I felt sick to my stomach. And scared. No scared wasn't the right word, neither was terrified or anything else. Words could not describe the feeling that now pulsated through my body. Heights were bad, but the terror I'd felt a few mere days ago clinging to that building was nothing compared to this. My heart pounded so loudly in my chest I swear it was shaking the building's floor, my head spun a thousand miles an hour and my entire body constricted in fear. Reyna was still speaking, but I couldn't hear her over my heart beat and my gasping for air. 

"Thalia, please focus on me, I know it feels like everything else is crashing down around you right now, but I promise it will get better. Don't let go of this, don't let go of me and you'll make it out of it," She said, but I didn't believe her.

"How? How can it all get better when we don't even know what it is? Even if it does it'll still get bad again. We're demigods Reyna! Demigods don't get happy endings. They die young, defeated, and unremembered." I blurted, but Reyna's eyes blazed like two embers of a roaring fire.

"No. Thalia demigods do get happy endings. Misery is quick to learn and quick to fill you with despair and make you believe that it's all hopeless. But Hope is stronger then fear, I promise you that. We can have a happy ending, it just takes work. Thalia I know you're scared and I know you don't know what's going on, but you don't give up. Everyone has this, everyone gets scared, but you can't stop, you have to keep marching on, you have to keep going. Just hold on to me, to this, to the happy memories that we have made now in the present, don't focus on the past. Stay here, with me and I promise you that we can make it be okay." She said and held me tightly to her as the roaring, spinning, devouring fear came to over take me. I could barely breath and she gently carried me down a hall way and knocked on a door.

The door opened and I just barely managed to turn my head to see who had answered the door. Surprisingly it was neither Nico nor Will. It was Piper who looked surprised to see us there.

"Hey, I thought you guys were out on a date?" She said looking confused, then looked at us more carefully, her expression turning serious and the grin dissolving from her face.

"Hey, Piper, are Nico and Will here?" Reyna asked and Piper nodded, stepping aside and letting us into the hotel room. I no longer had the dignity and, or the pride to care that I was basically being carried and shaking like a beaten puppy as I was placed on a bed. Will, Nico, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason had already been in the room so adding me and Reyna to the room made it a bit packed. Everyone looked startled to see a shaking daughter of Zeus dumped onto a bed with an exhausted daughter of Bellona next to her. 

"What happened?!" Jason, Annabeth, and Piper all asked at once whilst Nico and Will just looked surprised. Will walked over and started looking us over for Damages and Reyna sat up to try to explain, while I just broke down sobbing. I don't think I fully understood why I was crying, just that I felt like my chest was exploding and that my head was spinning so badly that I was starting to feel woozy and have trouble keeping my vision focused as I gasped for air. 

"I-I don't know what it was, but she didn't have control, it was like she was sleep walking. I don't really know I just.." Reyna finished looking almost as shaken up as me, but more grounded and understanding. Will handed me a cup of some kind of tea, but as I tried to take a sip my hands shook so badly that I nearly spilled the entire thing down the front of my shirt. Reyna gently grabbed the cup to steady it and wrapped her arm around me to steady me as I trembled violently. No one really looked like they knew what to make about this. Reyna helped me sip from the glass, tea washed down my throat and I started to feel a little more grounded and very, very, very tired. Leaning back against Reyna Nico started pacing.

"I tried to warn you earlier, but you wouldn't listen," He grumbled, his eyes worried as everyone stared at him, doubtful and confused. "Mania's are dangerous, especially when bound to a human. I found out the goddess of ghosts is stirring up some trouble in the underworld, i'm not sure who for, or why, but having any connections to any type of ghosts is dangerous right now. Thalia's mothers anger and frustration has been subconsciously influencing her all day, she might've even found a way to somewhat control her," My blood ran cold and the tea that had calmed me, suddenly felt like it was on it's way back up. I gagged and Reyna knit her eyebrows.

"So you're saying that she was possessed?" She asked Nico who shook his head, pacing agitatedly.

"Not really Possession, I think if that were the case Thalia wouldn't have lashed out at a mortal, especially for the specific reason of thinking he was flirting with you. That sounds more like small feelings being ramped up a hundred times over. More like she found a niche in Thalia she used to just get a little, partial control. She's just learning the extent of her power of Thalia, if she learns much more she would be able to get full control and if that were to happen," The room went silent, no one wanted to think about that. I especially didn't want to think about that. I wanted to get up and run as far away as possible.

"So..." Annabeth muttered, breaking the nervous silence, "how do we stop her?" Nico scratched his chin.

"With piper's help I may be able to convince her to leave, or perhaps if we could somehow get her to appear solidly to more people then just Thalia we could get rid of her, but she's too smart for either of those. I fear there is nothing we can do," Nico muttered and the silence resumed. The world seemed to drop out from under me and I suddenly felt very, very, very exhausted and dizzy, as if I'd been hit with an extremely powerful tranquilizer. I heard Reyna call my name as my body went limp and I passed out.

Reyna's POV

Thalia slumped backwards, for a moment no one moved. I don't know what we had expected to happen, but nothing did. Will gently checked her pulse and sighed.

"She just passed out from being overwhelmed, she needs rest," He turned to look at me and handed me Thalia's forgotten glass of tea. "and so do you. Everybody else, lets go over here and discuss this," He said and motioned for Piper, Annabeth, and Jason to join Nico beside the other bed. I wanted to protest, but I knew I was more shaken up then I wanted to admit. Soon found myself with an empty cup of tea and curled up next to a sleeping daughter of Zeus. Her eyebrows were knit in worry and she whimpered like something were attacking her. I gently wrapped my arms protectively around her trying, more wishing, I could block out all the nightmares and spirits and things that hurt Thalia. I had always seen her as a confident individual who could do anything, now I saw a scared, terrified, scarred girl who was afraid of her own shadow. Who's eyes were wide with fear and body was lined with scars. Thalia whimpered and buried herself into my shoulder as I slowly drifted into fretful dreams.

 

"Back again?" The asked and startled me so bad I nearly jumped out of my skin. Back in the garden with the younger version of my, now, girlfriend.

"You need to stop sneaking up on me like that!" I complained and a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes crossed her face.

"Sorry," She said, sounding not quite that sorry.

"What do you even want from me this time?" I asked gazing out over New Rome. The last few times it had always been, dawn, but now it was dusk. The golden chords of light gently glistened across Bacchus's fountain. Thalia's 13yr old self just stared out into the distance like I wasn't there.

"I imagine it isn't me who keeps bringing you back here. You keep taking yourself here. I am not the one who is trying to see you, you're the one trying to see me whether you realize it or not. My modern version puzzles you so you seek out my younger self to explore my past. You want to, you crave the knowledge I would provide to my modern self's secrets. unfortunately I do not have all of the answers. I can tell you many things Reyna Avila Ramirez Allreno, but the question is would you accept them?" she said, her eyes seemed to be sadder then ever, a look that was both on this version of Thalia and the modern version I had fallen in love with. 

"Are you saying that Thalia is hiding something important from me?" I asked and the ghost looked at me, her sad eyes seemed so old, so fragile, so broken.

"I'm saying that Thalia trusts you more then anyone else and you will learn a lot of things soon, but that Thalia will not share them easily. I need you to understand that Thalia has never been able to trust anyone else her entire life, she was betrayed to many times, now she can't even trust herself. She will only trust you now, and that can break some people, don't forget that you're all she knows is real anymore." She said, tears looked like they were about to spill, then the girl offered me her hand.

"Let me show you something," She whispered. After our last encounter, that sounded like a definite no, but the look she gave me made me give in because I'm an idiot and I took her hand.

 

Our surroundings collapsed in on themselves and folded back out so that I was on a hill in the middle of a thunderstorm. A girl with dark hair, plastered to her face stood a few feet away supporting a boy with the lower half of a goat, hundreds of monsters chased her and two blonde haired children up the hill. 

"Luke!" The girl with the black hair yelled and the older blonde boy glanced over at her. "Get Grover and Annabeth to safety, I'll keep the monsters busy," The boy nodded and scooped up the small blonde child at his feet who I now recognized as my friend Annabeth. The boy was handsome and looked almost shockingly similar to Jason, but he was missing the characteristic scar across the upper lip. He took Thalia's place at Grover's side and Thalia turned to face the monsters, unsheathing a dagger and uncoiling her bracelet that turned into a large shield with Medusa's head. Some of the monsters recoiled, but it wasn't really much of a fight, she was badly out numbered. A Cyclopes grabbed Thalia by the throat and slammed her into the ground.

"No!" The blonde boy named Luke screamed, dumping Annabeth and Grover on top of the hill and pulling out his sword, but he was too late. Thalia lay still on the ground, eyes staring sightlessly, but slowly her body faded and a large pine tree took her place, taller and bigger then any other tree surrounding the area. Something rippled across the entire valley and the monsters smashed harmlessly against the boarder to camp. The boy named Luke still had tears streaming down his cheeks as other campers rushed forward. He fell to his knees, clutching the sword. "Thalia... no... please.." He whispered and it suddenly struck me this was the boy who would become Kronos' slave. This was Luke Castellen, the son of Hermes.

The scene shifted, an older Luke with a scar across the right side of his face sat with his back leaning against Thalia's Pine. He sighed softly and looked up at the night sky which was clear and full of glistening stars, he clutched something close to his chest.

"Hey Thalia," he muttered softly, it took me a moment to realize he was talking to the tree. "It's uh, it's been a while. Look, I know that stealing the bolt was stupid, but I'm finally going to get revenge. Our revenge. I know if you were here, you'd approve," He said, fingering a kind of canister in his hands.

"I'm sorry you aren't here to do this with me, but your dad had to do this, had ti turn you into a tree, whatever," He sighed and turned around to look at the tree. "He's going to pay, they're all going to pay for what they did to me, did to us. I loved you Thalia, I'm sorry that you aren't here to love me back. I miss you," He gently placed a hand against the tree's bark, before standing and walking away. Again the scene changed and Luke now looked about a year older. He was holding a vial and he stared at the tree with cold, unfeeling blue eyes.

"I'm sorry my old friend, but if you were here you'd understand. You always understood me, no one else did. Not even Annabeth. I... I want a way out of this Thalia, but it's too late, I'm sorry. I know that you'd understand though," With that he rose his sword and stabbed into the trunk. Part of me wanted to scream in revulsion and that he was hurting her, but then again. It was a tree, who knew if she could feel it. After making the hole he dumped the vial into the tree's trunk, before slowly walking off. 

The scene again changed, now it was of a thirteen year old Annabeth standing beside the tree, a golden sort of carpet glistened in the dim dawn light, when suddenly there was a weird rustling noise from the tree. Annabeth drew her knife, turning towards it, part of the tree's roots lifted and suddenly there was a body laying there, a fifteen year old Thalia, her dark hair matted and full of pine needles, her skin was deathly pale and she didn't appear to be breathing. Annabeth stared at her old friend for about five seconds before collapsing. The scene changed to about half an hour later with Annabeth running over with a thirteen year old Percy and Satyr. They all bent down around Thalia, who remained limp and unresponsive. Grover, the satyr, and Annabeth backed away, looking stunned, while Percy lifted her up by the shoulders. Thalia suddenly shuddered, coughing and opening her eyes, looking startled.

"Who?" She asked Percy who just looked confused.

"I'm Percy" He muttered, "You're safe," he promised.

"Had the strangest dream," Thalia muttered, looking just as scared as everyone else, "Dying," I had the strange sense she wasn't talking about on half blood hill. She stared at me like she could actually see me. Then it all faded and I found myself back atop half-blood hill, alone in the dead of night.

"Hello?" I called and a voice startled me from behind.

"Finally, you made it," I spun to see a very angry fifteen year old Thalia next to me.

"Wha-who?" I said, startled slightly, but she just rolled her eyes.

"It took you long enough," I shook my head to clear it.

"Okay, thirteen year old Thalia at least made sense, who the hell are you?" I said and she sneered, eyes blazing.

"Well this is no 'A Christmas Carol', but let's just say my younger self was just the first of many," She said, there was an obvious difference between the last Thalia and this one. her younger self had been sad, this Thalia was angry and not afraid to show it.

"uh, okay, so what am I doing here?" She shrugged.

"How the Hades should I know? I don't control your sleep patterns. Speaking of which you might want to wake up," Before i could even find a comment on that I sat bolt upright next to Thalia in the hotel room only to find myself face to face with the daughter of Zeus herself. I yelped and fell back down, she laughed, but the laugh only sounded halfhearted. 

"Sorry, couldn't resist," She muttered softly and lay back down next to me. Her eyes held a familiar sadness to them, but she no longer looked so shaken up, more like she'd just accepted her death.

"Hey," I said and gently placed a hand to get her to focus on me. She stared at me for less then a second before latching onto me in a hug before I could even finish my sentence.

"I-I didn't know what I was doing, and I'm sorry, it's starting to come back to me now. I mean I can remember it, but I didn't do it, it's like watching a movie through one of the character's eyes. I remember it now I just... I didn't mean any of those things I said," she muttered and I smiled reassuringly.

"I know that Thalia, if you had the insults would've been worse," I tried to joke and cheer her up, but I just received a look from a pair of empty eyes. I gently bent over and kissed her. It only lasted for a brief few seconds, but Thalia seemed to take comfort in that. She rested herself against my chest.

"I'm sorry for being such a dead weight. I feel useless," She whispered and my heart ached.

"Never, call yourself useless Thalia, you are so talented, and don't think for a second I don't need you. I care about you and can't imagine life without you anymore," I promised and kissed her forehead softly. She sighed softly and relaxed as I very carefully held her close, trying not to worry about how much she doubted herself and how little she seemed to value herself. I tried to convince myself I'd always be there for her, as my heart beat echoed worriedly through my chest.


	24. Ghosts Haunt me

Thalia's POV

Dreams are a dangerous thing. Especially when you're a demigod with a ghost breathing down your neck all of the time. I stood a top the terrace I had spent most of my time back in LA on. This was where it had happened, where I had almost fell to my death. I shivered and pressed my back against the wall, suddenly a voice startled me.

"It took you long enough," I turned to see my mother sitting a couple paces away, a full bottle of vodka in her hand. She threw an empty beer can at me and I ducked out of the way. Suddenly hands wrapped around my arms. She yanked me forward so that I was directly in front of her. Suddenly I felt smaller, weaker, like I was just a little kid again. I squirmed against her, but she was stronger then me and the pain of a glass bottle being smashed over my head filled me. Spinning and screeching I tried to bite her, anything to get her to let go so I could escape, but suddenly I was thrown down to the ground, pain racing up my spine and blood going down my cheeks. My mother stood, eyes a cold blue.

"Ungrateful child. I provided food for you, gave you a roof to sleep under, and this is how you are repay me?!" She grabbed me by the back of the head as I tried to escape and pulled a cigarette out of her mouth, grinding the smoking end into the back of my neck. I screamed in pain. "Worthless!" She yelled and I tried to break free, but the strength from years of fighting and running was gone. I was a vulnerable kid with no strength and at the complete mercy of a woman who shared my genetics. She ground the cigarette harder into my skin, I could smell the flesh burning.

"Please!" I begged, but she just slapped me across the face.

"You do not get a 'please' you do not get mercy. You have betrayed me and deserve everything you get!" With that she kicked me hard in the head. Tears streamed down my cheeks and pain raced through my body when suddenly I woke up.

 

The pain didn't go away, if anything it was worse. My neck ached and i could still smell smoke, blood stained my cheeks and my head felt like it had pieces of glass impaled there. I tried not t scream, but my breathing picked up, Reyna lay fast asleep next to me and across the room Will and Nico were curled around each other in their bed. I gently shook her awake, and she blinked groggily before noticing the blood and paling.

Reyna's POV

"What the hell happened?" I spluttered upon waking up and seeing Thalia with several pieces of glass stuck in the top of her head and blood coming from a cut across her left cheek and a burn mark on the back of her neck. She looked about to throw up and I started to pull the pieces of glass out of her head.

"I-I'm not sure, my mom attacked me, but that was a dream, how could I still have wounds that I got in a dream?" She whimpered and I reached over the night stand to grab a canteen of nectar and hand it to her. She took a sip and the cut across her cheek closed as well as a bunch of bruises fading. 

"Look, I was worried before, but this is just plain scary," I muttered and a voice spoke after me, nearly making me jump out of the bed.

"Agreed," I looked up to see a thirteen year old Thalia sitting on the desk across from the bed. Thalia gave no acknowledgement to her younger self as I just stared.

"What? What is it?" Thalia asked, but I just ignored her.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I said to the ghost who just shrugged.

"To be honest I'm not sure, I thought I'd finally gotten rid of you, only to find myself sitting here. Tell me that I like her hair," She said and smiled in that way that never quite reached her eyes. I just gave her a weird look.

"Are you just going to follow me around like Thalia's mother?" I asked and the ghost nodded.

"More or less, except I'm not a mania, I'm merely a spirit. I can't influence you, not do I intend to. Plus I'm pretty much just as trapped in this as you are. I have no choice to follow you around, this just kinda happened," She said and I blinked a couple times.

"Didn't Nico say it was dangerous to be around ghosts right now," I said and she just rolled her eyes.

"How should I know. I'm not daughter of Hades," I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Who are you talking to?" Thalia, er, modern Thalia asked me.

"A ghost, because apparently one wasn't enough," I said and the ghost version of Thalia shrugged helplessly.

"Of who?" Thalia asked, looking edgy now, and I wondered how weirded out she would be if I was talking to the ghost version of her who had died on half-blood hill. Before I could figure that out ghost Thalia simply stuck a hand through the real Thalia who yelped and launched herself into my lap as the ghost laugh. She stared at it.

"Is, is that me?!" She yelled and the ghost shrugged.

"Well the version of you that died on half blood hill nearly twenty years ago," she said and Thalia just stared at her ghost with horror. I face palmed.

"Great, you now know yourself, fantastic, now get off of me so I can finish getting the glass out of your hair while we figure out our situation," I muttered and gently shoved Thalia off of me so I could see the top of her head and pick glass out. Thalia blushed slightly and looked at the younger version of herself.

"Why are you following Reyna around?" She asked the ghost who just shrugged.

"Honestly I don't know. I just kinda appeared here," She said as I rolled my eyes and Thalia looked a bot confused.

"Well at least she seems to be more friendly then my mother," Thalia muttered and I had to agree on that one. Nico stirred across the room and sat up, rubbing his face groggily. He stood and walked past the ghost.

"Morning Thalia," He muttered half-asleep wise and walked to the bathroom. The ghost chuckled softly.

"Did he think that I was the real Thalia?" She asked and I shrugged.

"He's half-asleep so probably," I muttered while Thalia just pouted.

"So now there's a ghost version of myself following us around and we can't get rid of her or my mother," She summed up and I nodded.

"Not to mention that apparently your mother can now hurt you in your sleep and you'll carry the wounds into the land of the living," I added and she shivered slightly. 

"Unfortunately," The ghost muttered and we turned to face it. "Our mother is capable of much, much more. The fact is that she's just starting to figure out her powers and abilities," She said and I glared slightly.

"You're scaring yourself," I chastised her and gently hugged Thalia who had the expression of someone who'd just watched a puppy get hit by a car. I sighed.

"Thalia, it's okay. It's not your fault and we're going to figure out how to get you out of this," I promised the daughter of Zeus. She shivered and burrowed into my side, the ghost watched curiously. Nico walked back into the room, much more awake and looked from the ghost sitting on the hotel desk to the Thalia I was holding on the bed, and back again.

"What the Hades?!" He muttered and I quickly explained to him, but he still looked a bit confused.

"So you've got a ghost version of Thalia bound to you and a mania of Thalia's mom bound to Thalia while a ghost goddess is stirring. That's probably not a good thing," Ghost Thalia looked offended.

"Hey! I'm right here you know! I don't serve that Goddess, I'd much rather be in Elysium right now, but I keep getting dragged around by her," She complained and Nico just gave her an odd look.

"Your ghost seems agitated," He muttered and I sighed.

"Nico stop picking fights with Thalia's ghost," I muttered wondering how weird of a sentence that was. Thalia, the real one, looked like she was half asleep, but I gently shook her awake. She groaned softly.

"Thalia, you've got to stay awake a bit longer," She just groaned and burrowed into my shoulder.

"What happened?" Nico asked seeing the bruises and cut marks and I quickly told him about how her mother had attacked her in a dream and she had carried the injuries into the real world. Nico looked worried.

"Then she's getting more powerful. Thalia, I would make sure that you stick with Reyna as much as possible in case something happens. Reyna, Thalia's ghost seems to be on the side of helping unlike her mother, so I would stick with it if i were you," He muttered and I shivered slightly.

"You sure? Didn't you say being around ghosts was dangerous?" I asked and he nodded.

"In this case you lucked out on getting a friendly spirit, she could probably help, if you let her that is," He promised and gently looked at Thalia who looked tired, like the energy was being sucked out of her. He muttered a couple words in Greek and touched her forehead and she closed her eyes, falling asleep.

"I gave her a blessing, that should allow her to sleep without getting hurt, but please take good care of her." He said before walking back over to curl up next to Will. I sighed and just help Thalia protectively.

"You aren't dying on me Grace, don't even think about it," I muttered.


	25. This Was a Horrible Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three days have passed, Greeks have joined this weird school, and Reyna and Thalia's Ghost make a deal

Thalia's POV

You'd think that three days would be plenty of time to get used to a ghost version of your thirteen year old self following your girlfriend around, but no it isn't. I mean I couldn't even see her anymore, and she still creeped me out. I mean, it was me. Why was I scared of myself? I don't know this is just really stressing me out, like fucking hell I don't even know what to say.

Ghost mom hasn't made an appearance in the last three days, which I guess is good but I feel like a coiled spring, like something is winding me up, waiting for me to explode. My fuse has always been short, but recently it's almost nonexistent. I feel like I'm about to attack someone at any moment and every little thing just makes me mad. Nico says it's my mom's aura influencing me, but I seriously feel like I can barely control my actions anymore. It's like moving through a swimming pool alone, every little movement I make makes shock-wave that eventually become powerful waves against the pool walls and splashing over the sides. Class was an entirely different story.

We had just got our first quarter report cards back, reminding me it was nearly Halloween. To put it bluntly I was failing music class. Like seriously of all of my subjects I was surprised to find that was the one I was failing in. Geometry proved to be much easier to understand then Algebra and English was a breeze. Music class however was a nightmare. I had always liked to make up little random silly songs just to pass the time, but this was so much harder. My dyslexia decided that music notes were the enemy and my idocy decided that I wanted to take up violin instead of percussion which I was already really good at. I was flunking the class and that was just contributing to my building up anger.

"Thalia?" A voice asked and I looked up from where I had been glaring at my English paper to look at Reyna who sat across from me at the lunch table.

"You okay? You haven't talked all day," She said looking worried and I just sighed, not trusting myself to open my mouth and answer her. My mother apparently enjoyed scrambling my brain, as I said I hadn't seen her, but I could feel her presence and I could feel her scrambling my brain. I knew from this morning if I tried to say anything it would come out in a weird mixture of Greek and Latin that no one would understand. I just gestured towards my paper, as if to give myself an excuse not to answer.

"Thalia come on, talk to me," She said and gave me an odd look when I simply stared at her. Finally I lost the staring contest.

"Ο εγκέφαλός μου αισθάνεται σαν να είναι έτοιμος να εκραγεί και κάθε φορά που εγώ ακόμη να πω ένα πράγμα που βγαίνει σε αυτό το περίεργο μείγμα της ελληνικής και λατινικής . Απλά να προσθέσω ότι πάνω από το γεγονός ότι είμαι flunking Μουσική τάξη , καθώς προσπαθεί να ανακαλύψει πώς να μην διακατέχεται από μανία της μητέρας μου," I said fluently in greek and was met with a weird look from Reyna as she tried to decipher what I had just said.

"Come again?" She said and I sighed, trying again.

"Meum cerebrum suus futurus praemium percipit , et in cunctis orationibus meis , aliud autem exterius prodeat per mixtionem hanc graece et latine. Nam quod ego adiciam super flunking Musica materia, non trying impetro matris numine Mania," I said again, this time in Latin and she nodded, although still looked a bit confused.

"So I take it your conversational skills are confusing at best," She muttered and I threw my hands up. "So speaking English is out the window right now I take it," She muttered and I nodded slowly. "Well that's just dandy,"

"Et tu dicis mihi Τουλάχιστον μπορείτε να κάνετε μια συνειδητή προσπάθεια anglicus ad me κολλήσει speaking this random purgamentum," I grumbled and she knit her eyebrows as she tried to decipher that.

"I'm sorry, you're going to at least try to sat that completely in Latin because I have no idea what that was," she said and I just threw my hands up in defeat. Before she could as again I just grabbed a pencil and tried to scribble it down in English, but the familiar sensation of coldness wrapped around me and even the writing came out in the random gibberish. I threw the paper and pencil and let loose a stream of curse words mostly in Latin directed at my mother.

"filius a matre aries , fucking fragmen stercore vivens , animal totum in toto universo unam freaking de , aut in acervum purgamentum maximus planeta!" Was just one example of the words that were exiting my mouth, but Reyna just looked confused.

"Your mother I'm guessing?" She said and I nodded. She sighed and face palmed.

"Of all the things she would do, messing with your lingual abilities has to be the least that I expected," she muttered as I just tried to force myself to speak English and failed. It was like my brain and my mouth had a loose connection, on one hand I'd been feeling like that a lot lately, like my control over my own body was slowly breaking.

"Come on, let's get to Latin class where at least you speaking in Latin wont be weird," she muttered and I stood to throw away my stuff. As we made our way through the hallway I noticed a group of boys following us and narrowed my eyes.

"Reyna , qui erant post nos," I growled, and Reyna cast a glance t them, stopping in the middle of the hallway, stopping shoulder to shoulder and taking up fighting stances.

"What do you want?" She growled and they all cast glances at each other, looking slightly nervous now. 

"Uh, look we don't want to get into a fight," the guy in front said raising his hands defensively, "We just wanted to give you this," He handed me a flyer and I quickly scanned it.

"There will be a on campus part on Friday next week in honor of the soon to come fall season, so grab your jackets, because the autumn formal has arrived," The paper read, I didn't particularly care and neither did Reyna by the expression on her face wen she read it.

"Okay, and what does this have to do with us?" She asked and looked up at the nervously shuffling teens. The ring leader awkwardly shifted his weight.

"Uh, well, you see the principal kinda wants you to be a guest of honor sort of deal because you saved the life of a fellow student," He said and Reyna narrowed her eyes.

"Uh, okay then, I'll swing by the office later," She said, still looking skeptical and concerned. The other guys nodded and slunk off leaving me and Reyna alone again.

"Ridiculum hoc esset," I muttered softly and Reyna nodded in agreement. She stuffed the paper in her pocket and we continued towards Latin class. 

Reyna's POV

Okay I've seen plenty of weird things over the past few days, but Thalia's inability to speak English has to be the weirdest thing yet. Ghost Thalia and I had reached an understanding to stay out of each other's way as much as possible so at least that was good, but now, sitting in the middle of Latin class with Thalia attempting to balance a pencil on top of her nose as the teacher lectured us about the history of Latin and Roman ties I started to wish the ghost would pop in if to do nothing other then keeping this man from boring me to death. Suddenly I was brought out of my thoughts by asking me a question.

"Mrs. Ramirez can you tell me the twelve roman gods that were important in both Roman and Greek culture?" He asked.

"Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Mercury, Minerva, Bacchus, Diana, Apollo, Ceres, Vulcan, Venus, Mars, also Pluto but you only asked for twelve," I muttered in a sort of bored tone I hadn't intended on making, but was just too bored to function and barely keeping my eyes open. A smirk came from Thalia when the teacher turned to address the entire classroom.

'I think I'm rubbing off on you,' she muttered sarcastically. Still in Latin, but for the sake of simplicity and understanding I'm just going to write it in English. 

"Don't remind me," I muttered back to the daughter of Zeus, who looked distracted by something, suddenly shivering and planting a hand on the desk.

"Is it that stupid ghost again," I hissed when the teacher had his back turned and only got a weak nod in response, she suddenly looked smaller, she always did. When I had first arrived here, which was nearly a month ago believe it or not, she had been taller then me easily. Her tall lithe frame and and elegant features had slightly intimidated me. That and she had always seemed to be looming over me, like some kind of stalking bat. Now I was barely taller then her, although she refused to admit it. It was quite funny to see the look of pure indignation and scathing when she had realized she could no longer see over the top of my head.

Unfortunately, now being taller then her and knowing Thalia a lot better I was able to tell what I had mistook of a lithe frame and fair skin was actually just the fact that she ate less then Nico di angelo which was quite scary. She looked almost fragile in the fluorescent light, like her skin was made of thin parchment and her body made out of toothpicks. She instinctively recoiled as I tried to place a hand on her shoulder.

"I-I'm fine," She stuttered out, now back in English which seemed to surprise herself even more then it surprised me. She pressed a hand to her forehead and groaned. I saw the blood coming from her nose. That had started to become a regular sight. It seemed the more Thalia's mother interacted with Thalia the worse her health got, her skin so pale that she was almost translucent and she had bags under her eyes like she hadn't slept in weeks despite being the only thing she did do besides homework. 

"Thalia, you and I both know that this," I gestured to her shaking, pale, skinny, startled frame, "is not fine."

"At least I'm not dead," She huffed and pulled her jacket tighter around herself as i handed her a tissue to wipe up the blood from her nose as the bell rung. The teacher dismissing everyone and saying something about an essay due friday.

_______________________________________________________________

Finally, home. Or at least the dorm room that supplemented for it. Our Greek friends had decided that staying in town was a good idea due to the rising tension that something bad was going to happen and had ended up joining our school. If people thought our group was mismatched before they should've seen us now. As I walked into the room I wasn't surprised when Thalia flopped down on the bed and almost immediately was asleep. I was, however, a little startled to see the ghost hovering over my desk and flipping through a copy of Harry Potter

"What the heck are you doing?" I asked, not bothering to lower my voice, as Thalia slept like a Medusa victim. 

"Catching up on things I've missed, this is a really good book, to bad I never was a reader back when I was alive," was the response I got from the thirteen year old. Sighing, I plunked down in the seat beside my desk.

"I mean I thought we agreed that we'd stay as far away from each other as we could unless necessary," I growled at the ghost who placed the book down gently.

"We did, which is why I'm here. I'm not safe, and I don't mean me, I mean modern me," The ghost pointed at the sleeping version of her sixteen year old self. I had to refrain from rolling my eyes, okay Thalia really was starting to rub off on me.

"I could infer that much without your help," I grumbled, but she just rolled her eyes and settled her transparent form on the desk beside me.

"What I mean is that the aura that is my mothers is gripping her tighter and tighter every day, and it's only a matter of time before Thalia either explodes or, metaphorically speaking, suffocates. Not to mention that not only is it effecting her regular mental health I'm sure you've noticed how short her fuse has gotten lately," she said almost to fast for me to understand, but soon I found myself chewing the inside of my cheek.

"What can I do about it, as I've stated before my power is limited to mild control over weapons and sharing strength," I said and the ghost sighed as if talking to a child who was exceptionally stupid.

"Let me spell this out for you, no matter what happens no matter what you do it's only a matter of time before she, I, am possessed by that woman. And I don't mean that little moment of not exactly being in control, but not really out of control you saw a couple days ago. I mean full on possession. I may be your only chance at fighting her when that happens," she said and suddenly realization hit me like a brick wall.

"Oh no, you are not possessing me!" I said and the ghost looked like I had finally gotten an answer correctly on a test.

"Not exactly possession, but it may be your only alternative," she said, but anger flared up in my veins.

"Look I can take Thalia, I can take anyone. If she's possessed, so what, it's just an old drunk woman in the body of a teenage girl," I said, but knew that it was hopeless to argue this ghost. Thalia was a really smart thirteen year old and thought everything out very carefully, something my girlfriend didn't do.

"That is true, but this is a woman who, unlike Thalia, won't hold back on hurting you, a woman who knows every secret you've ever told Thalia and will exploit every weakness you have. A woman who is ruthless and in the body of someone you love and could never hurt. She is untouchable, so the only way for you to fight back is to even the playing field. I promise you I'm only trying to help and as soon as this is dealt with you will have full control back. All you need to do is swear on the river Styx that our souls are bound," The ghost made a very convincing argument and I chewed my lip for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh.

"I wont let you kill my girlfriend, even if it isn't her in her body. We need to find a way to get her away, for the mean time, I will agree if nothing more to subdue her when the time comes," I resigned and the ghost smiled in that sad way that made her eyes seem like they were pit of broken glass.

"I'm sorry," she said in the way that made me want to melt into a puddle, but I shoved that into the back of my mind. 

"I, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Allreno, swear on the River Styx that the spirit of Thalia Grace is mine, and mine only, therefore taking responsibility for her soul and granting her access to my body in the case of emergency," I said in the most professional way I could and I don't exactly know what I expected to happen, but nothing really did. Except a feeling of ice cold fingers raking down my back, I shivered and spun around only to find nothing there. Swallowing nervously I looked back at the Spirit of Thalia who now looked a lot less transparent and had the same visible reaction I had.

"Okay, that was just creepy," She muttered and shivered, I could see, what looked like faint strings that were attached at the ghost's and my wrists and ankles. I tried to touch one and my fingers moved clean through it.

"So uh, what now," I muttered and the ghost and I met eyes, a slight glint had appeared in her eyes that almost made me want to make sure my face wasn't covered in sharpie or something. It was the glint in the eye of a kid that now had a new toy to play with, it took me a millisecond to realize I was the toy.

"Now, I believe we should start our training, it's been a long time since I've had a body and we don't want to be as clumsy as my mother when she first appears, do we?" she asked with a humor filled glint I wasn't used to seeing in her sad eyes.

"I have a feeling this was a bad Idea," I muttered, backing away and the ghost just laughed.

"Relax, I promise you that I'm not going to take advantage of you, I meant what I said when I said I'm only trying to help," She said, which didn't steady my nerves. I sighed.

"Fine, but I'm leaving a note for Thalia so she doesn't freak out when I'm not here," I muttered and scooped up a notepad to scribble a quick note on. The ghost then, somehow, grabbed me by the back of my shirt and dragged me to the basketball court leaving a sleeping Thalia with a note that was only half written and didn't say a thing about my new body buddy. This was a really bad Idea.


	26. Jason sucks at Basket Ball

Thalia's POV

I awoke cold, sore, and just plain exhausted. Groaning soft I tried to roll over and burrow further under the covers, but I still felt cold.

"Reyna, did you turn up the air conditioning?!" I called and got no response, curiously, I poked my head up from the blankets to find it was still light outside and I was alone in the dorm room. I groaned and sat up. Wait, I was alone. A million bad situations flew through my mind on where Reyna was and how possible it was that she was dead. My heart started thudding in my chest and I had to press my hand over it in order to keep it from flying out of my chest. Why the hell was I freaking out? This was Reyna she could take care of herself. Still my heart beat fast and my stomach rolled nervously.

There was no way I was going to sleep now. I flipped up the covers and made to stand up when I discovered a note fluttering towards the floor and read it.

Thalia, 

I'm going out for a quick work out, should be back in an hour or two.-Reyna

The note read and I breathed a sigh of relief. I seriously have an issue if my heart is going to explode every time I don't know where she is, but somehow whenever she was gone I felt like a million eyes were watching me, poking and prodding, as if to see how I'd react. That thought alone sent shivers down my spine as I moved to change from my school clothes to regular clothes. 

After changing into a Star Wars hoodie and jeans I scooped up my backpack to start on my English homework, when a cold sensation gripped me by the back of my neck. A growl of irritation came out of my throat, but almost immediately turned to a whimper at sudden pain racing down my arms and legs. I yelped and instinctively curled into a ball, dropping my back pack in the process. My entire body pounded with agony as the sensation of razor blades being dragged across my arms filled me. I bit down hard on my bottom lip, drawing blood as the pain overwhelmed me and I suddenly felt like the world was spinning.

"Worthless," A voice said and it was everywhere, echoing off of the walls and wrapping around me like a chain, binding me as the pain reached an almost unbearable level. The door flew open and it was all gone in an instant leaving me laying on the bed, gasping for air as blood leaked from my nose and lip where I'd bit myself. These nose bleeds were getting more common, but never had I felt sensations like that before hand. My blood felt like ice. Reyna stumbled into the dorm room, looking a little dizzy and dazed like she had just ran around in a circle for an hour before getting hit in the head with a brick.

"Y-You okay?" I stuttered out, barely able to mask the fear that had crept into my voice. I wiped the blood off my face, and stood to help steady the Roman who appeared to be having trouble catching her breath and figuring out which direction was up. 

"Just, over did it a bit," She said breathlessly, but I gently pushed her into her bed where she groaned softly.

"Over doing it doesn't make someone this dizzy, what happened?" I asked and sat next to her as her skin took on a greenish tint.

"You don't want to know," was the answer I got, she groaned and pressed a hand to her head, groaning. I stood to grab a Tylenol.

"You still didn't answer the question," I complained and pulled the pill bottle down from the medicine cabinet before handing her one which she swallowed dryly.

"Sorry, it's just," She paused as if searching for the right word, "weird. The reason I was so dizzy is because I got hit in the head by some idiots with a bowling ball. Who even throws a bowling ball?" She sounded more annoyed then dizzy now, but just in case I sat next to her and started to feel around her head to check for possible injuries and found a spot with pretty bad swelling.

"Well it isn't going to be pretty, but I think you'll live," I said and suddenly realized that she wasn't responding. I met her eyes, "What?" She was staring at my arms and I glanced down to see what looked like a million paper cuts covering my arms, blood steadily leaking from them.

"What the hell?" I yelled and ran my hand over it, as if trying to wipe away the paper cuts, but they stayed there stubbornly. "What the actual fuck? I didn't," I suddenly realized what this must look like and went pale, "I swear on the river Styx I didn't!" raising my arms pleadingly, but Reyna just pursed her lips. 

"Thalia, what happened?" She said, her eyes had gone from slightly confused to steely in a matter of seconds.

"I-I don't, I was just, I woke up and grabbed my stuff and then it felt like someone was attacking my arms and I just, fuck how do I explain this to Jason, oh shit," I grabbed my head which felt like it was spinning, my breath had seemed to pick up and my heart was beating so incredibly hard. Reyna's arms wrapped around me and I soon found myself nestled in the protective hold of the Roman with my eyes the size of saucers. 

"Shhh," She whispered and didn't seem to mind I was getting blood on her, "It's okay, I've got you, don't let go, I've got you," she promised me and I felt like curling up and crying. No, I will not cry, I will not let her get the better of me, I am Thalia Grace, I will not cry. I tried to push myself away, but Reyna just tightened her hold.

"Reyna, I-I'm okay you can-" I started, trying to gently break away, but the Roman just shook her head.

"Nope, you need to rest, I can feel the fever rolling off of you. We'll talk about this in the morning," she said and before I could protest, she flipped up over and pinned me to the bed. I huffed, staring up into the dark eyes of the Roman and for a moment I could've sworn they turned blue, before flickering back to dark brown.

"Not fair," I said, as she leaned her face close to mine and a faint blush crept over my cheeks. Her eyes were so warm and her she smelled like fresh hot cocoa. My stomach fluttered and my heart beat slowed to a crawl as I stared at her. Even after officially dating for at least a couple weeks I was nervous around her. 

"Life isn't fair," She simply responded and kissed me softly and I lost myself in her, which felt extremely nice for a change. Warmth filled my body as her lips gently pressed against mine, I let my arms reach up and wrap around her shoulders, pulling her close to me. Her arms found their way around my waist to pull me close to her. The smell of hot cocoa overwhelmed me. She tasted like vanilla, her hair was like silk as I found my fingers reaching up to undo her braid, unfortunately humans were cursed with the need to breath and I soon found myself laying flat on my back with Reyna laying on top of her, both of us panting faintly. She smiled softly and kissed me again, softer and sweeter this time, but it still filled me with that rush of adrenaline that made me want to do wonderfully stupid things with Reyna.

She stood and walked to go get bandages, but I felt like I was floating on a cloud probably a mixture of lack of oxygen, and the amount of blood dripping down my arms and from my nose. She wrapped up my arms before planting another kiss on my forehead. Smiling faintly I gently reached up to kiss her cheek as the darkness of sleep came to take me. 

Reyna's POV

Do you know what it feels like to have to share your body with a ghost and once you finally get used to it are forcibly ejected back into your own body? Well let me tell you I was so dizzy I couldn't tell which direction was up, and Thalia's ghost, being the asshole it is decided it wanted to leave right as I walked through the door so I almost killed myself as I was stumbling around the room with a visibly shaken daughter of Zeus trying to keep me from falling. Thanks.

The cuts were starting to worry me now. If her mother had the power to injure Thalia without her even noticing, or being powerless to stop it, I was starting to worry. Now she lay curled up in my bed with bandages covering her arms and legs where I had found even more cuts. At least the good thing was they were all very shallow so she shouldn't be hurt to badly, but as her body radiated fever and she continuously shivered I was left to worry about her. Chewing my thumb I paced, back and forth, across the dorm room, reviewing the experienced I'd just had with that asshat of a spirit.

 

 

"Okay, so how is this going to work?" I asked the ghost who now stood directly in front of me on the basket ball court. She was giving me a curious look, as if wondering the same thing.

"To be honest I'm not sure, it's not like I've ever done this before, hold still," She stepped towards me and I fought every cell in my body, telling me to run, to get away, to not let her get any closer. if this was going to work I'd have to trust this kid whether I wanted to or not. Her eyes darkened as I didn't move away, as if I had passed another test.

It was like having a million buckets of ice dumped on me at once, the sensation was so cold I almost blacked out, instead I just found myself laying on the ground like a rag doll.

"Ugh what the hell just happened." I muttered to myself, then blinked slowly and stood. It was a bit like when a baby deer takes it first steps, wobbly and uncoordinated, but then I slowly got the hang of it. I paused for a moment just trying to figure out exactly who I was.

'You are Thalia Grace,' one voice said, another, almost irritated broke out as well.

'No! You are Reyna Avila Ramirez-Allreno!' it yelled and I pressed a hand to my head as it seemed that two different people were fighting for control.

"Enough!" I growled out loud and a couple kids gave me and odd look, but I shook it off, speaking quietly to myself,"I am neither Thalia, nor Reyna okay. I am myself and I don't give a damn who that is," With that I ran down the basket ball court with more speed then I knew I was capable of, my feet didn't seem to make a sound as I ran, as If I were floating above the ground. I snatched up a basket-ball and started sinking hoop, after hoop, not exactly knowing why, but enjoying it all the same. The fighting voices had gone quiet as if I had decided an argument, I guess that was good.

"Hey Reyna!" a voice and I spun to face a boy with Blonde hair and blue eyes, copper glasses resting on his nose and a scar across his lip.

'Jason Grace,' both of the voices said in unison, which for some reason made me feel better.

"Hey Jase," I said and flung the ball into the air, sinking it in the hoop, a competitive smirk crossed the Son of Zeus' face, stretching that scar in a slightly annoying way.

"You want to play a little one on one?" he asked, eyes flashing in a familiar way I couldn't quite place, "I promise I'll go easy on you," he teased, catching the ball. A smirk that felt like second nature filled my face.

"I believe I need to be the one going easy on you," I said, a grin appearing on my face. Jason gave me a weird look like this was strange behavior, but just shrugged it off.

"Let's go Rey," he tried to go for a three pointer, but I launched myself upward, snatching the ball out of the air and tearing down to the half court line, he looked surprised at my speed.

"Starting off a bit unfairly aren't we Grace?" I asked and he rolled his eyes.

"I think my sister is starting to rub off on you," he said before taking up a defensive position.

"You have no idea," I muttered before shooting the ball.

 

You'd think that basket-ball games would last longer then thirty minutes, but apparently Jason was a really slow runner and losing badly. He sat panting on the side lines of the court, shirt drenched in sweat as I stretched out on the court itself, sprawled out spread eagle and staring up at the sky.

"I don't recall you being so fast," Jason wheezed before flopping down beside me so I just shrugged.

"I'm a bit different since the last time we played basket-ball," I muttered, replaying dozens of scenes of me, or what felt like me, playing basket ball with this guy, but was a bit confused when I saw myself as two different people.

"No kidding, you're acting a lot like Thalia, it's kind of weird," He said and I had the slight urge like that name held some sort of significance to me, but couldn't place it, so I just shrugged.

"How are you and my sister doing anyway, you haven't talked much about her this whole time," he asked and again I had the sense of two different peoples memories combining in my head, mixing together and confusing me. I pressed a hand to my head.

"I think I should go, I'm pretty sure I left her alone in the dorm," I said, sitting up, a sudden urgency that something was wrong rushing through me.

"Wait hold on a second!" Jason yelled, standing to face me, squinting his eyes, looking confused. "Are, Are your eyes blue?!" he asked and before I could respond my feet ran in the opposite direction, as if they weren't connected to my mind.

 

 

It was weird when I realized that the memories of me and Thalia's ghost were slightly blurred together as if it wasn't quite me and it wasn't quite her, but rather a blend of the two. I pressed a hand to my forehead, this was all too confusing. I groaned and lay down next to Thalia, pulling her close so that her head rested against the chest.

"Sleep well, I've got you," I whispered, she burrowed into my side as I pulled up the covers and drifted off to sleep.


	27. If you go, I go with you

Thalia's Pov

Why the hell is it so cold?! ugh. I burrowed into the warm body next to mine as the cold achingly climbed my spin. The Roman made a soft noise before rolling over and allowing me to bury my face in the crook of her neck. Her eyes remained closed, but in the room's dim light I was able to make out her face. She looked worried, something was agitating her in her sleep. I slowly sat up only to feel a sharp pain in my side and looked down. Buried in my side was a pencil. I raised an eyebrow at the strange weapon and pulled it free of my clothes. Why was a pencil in my side?

Answer: Reyna is a complete nerd. Splayed across the bed were assorted worksheets for several classes, some complete in her writing, others were written in Reyna's best attempt at copying my messy hand writing. I sighed and wished she would stop doing this. Ever since I'd gotten to the point with my mom that I often slept from the moment school ended to when Reyna dragged me out of bed in the mornings, Reyna, being the idiotic sweetheart she is, decided that she would do my homework for me. I appreciated the gesture, but often felt guilty that she was doing all the work while I just slept, but to be fair if I didn't sleep I would just collapse later on. Still it just ate at my insides to see Reyna with dark circles under her eyes after staying up gods know how long to do my stupid geometry. I stood and carefully put away all the work and tucked her into the bed more securely so she wasn't in danger of falling out of the bed. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and got back into the bed, my body feeling hot and cold at the same time. Shivering I curled into a ball when that feeling came back, a feeling like ice cold water being dumped over my head and I was dizzy, pain racing through my spine and over my neck. The pain concentrated itself in my head. It all went dark.

 

I woke up colder then I had been when I passed out, groaning softly I sat up and found out I was not in fact in my dorm room, but instead sprawled out alone in a field of grass who knows where. I stood and looked up. Still night time, and judging by the position of the stars and moon it was about four o'clock in the morning. I groaned and sat up slowly, only to realize that the pain in my head was back, but to less of an extent. Groaning I pushed myself upward until I was standing and scoped out my surroundings. I appeared to be in the fields at least five miles away from the town and even further from the school, how'd I gotten there I didn't know. What I did know was I was freezing, tired, had a head ache, and was the world seemed to be spinning violently around me. Keeping my stomach from spilling it's contents was a challenge on it's own. Now I had to find a way back to town, so I began the long, dizzy, half-awake, trek home. 

Believe it or not apparently stumbling around in the dark along a highway so dizzy you're walking like a drunk person can make cops believe you are in fact, a drunk person. I was pulled over by an older cop with dark eyes. I dimly noticed him trying to get my attention, but I felt so cold and so dizzy I was on the verge of collapsing. He huffed and dragged me to his police car where I fell asleep in the backseat, still unaware of how I'd gotten into the middle of an open field after passing out, and even more confused as to why I felt like I was walking through fifty layers of molasses.

Reyna's POV

I swear to the gods I'm going to kill Thalia. When I find her at least. I had woken up that morning expecting the familiar sight of the daughter of Zeus curled up next to me, only to find an empty bed and door left ajar. Now I had officially contacted all of my friends and everyone i knew in the area to ask if they knew where she was. I had investigated the school building thinking that for some reason she had gotten up early and left for school. No Thalia. Now school would be over in ten minutes and I was at the point of just chucking my backpack across the room and screaming. If I didn't find her soon I would seriously start to consider asking Nico if he could use his weird shadow voodoo to pinpoint her, that's how desperate I was. And thankfully that's when I was called down to the office.

"Miss Ramirez, please sit," The receptionist said pleasantly before pulling out a paper and handing it to me, puzzled I glanced over it. It was a police report.

"Name: Grace, Thalia Bethany

Age: 16

Notes: Subject was found on the side of the highway barely conscious with high fever and looked so severely exhausted even the doctors at the hospital were surprised to find she was still awake when she had been found. Subject gave no explanation as to what she was doing so far away from her dorm or why she was so exhausted. Instead subject proceeded to cuss out all officers who tried to talk to her, and taped a couple of their hands together. 

Conclusion: Subject was released from custody at 2:45 PM Wednesday October 17th. She will be released back into the custody of her school with her room mate to look after her, as subject still is very ill and has a high fever," I read to myself and, as if on cue, a familiar black haired girl stumbled through the principle's office. Her hair was even more messy then usual and the bags under her eyes were noticeably worse, she looked like if I breathed on her too hard she'd go flying. I stood and hugged her tightly.

"Thank the gods that you're okay," I whispered and she leaned into me, her breath panting slightly, her skin felt like I was touching a light bulb, which worried me. She really did have a bad fever.

"I'm fine, I'll explain when we get back to the dorm," She whispered, her voice hoarse and tired in a way that almost made the pit of anger and worry I'd been holding in all day melt. Almost.

"Good, because you've been a giant pain in my ass all day!" I growled and started yanking on her ear.

"OW! OW! OW! OW!" she said trying to push me away.

"If you ever disappear like that again I'm going to get one of those toddler leashes and tie you to the bed post like a dog," I growled and she nodded.

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry!" She said and I let go, shoving her lightly.

"Good, now let's go get you to bed," I said. Her eyes glittered slightly, almost like she was trying not to laugh. I dragged her to the dorm room, dodging other kids and traffic along the way, leaping out of the way of a bunch of football players, and then ran smack dab right into the person I had been avoiding all day.

"Hey Reyna!" Jason said, reaching out to steady me as I nearly fell into a mail box, Thalia, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky, instead she smacked her face into the the mailbox, causing both me, and Jason to wince.

"You okay?" I asked and helped her up as she groaned softly.

"Just dandy, because I love running into metal objects when I already feel like I'm about to pass out," She muttered sarcastically before almost falling over. I grabbed her around the waist to keep her from falling face firt back onto the mailbox. Jason gave me a look like he was about to say something, but I waved him off.

"Later, I've got to get this one," I gestured to the now dazed and sick Thalia, "to bed and some nectar," I said.

"When did you get taller then me..?" Thalia muttered in a soft, half-asleep voice. Jason swallowed his comment and nodded before I continued dragging the daughter of Zeus towards the dorm rooms, hoping Jason hadn't wanted to talk about yesterday's incident, because I wouldn't know what to say. 

As I lay Thalia down and made her swallow as much nectar as she could handle, I noticed the scar across her neck. I reached down and gently touched it, the now asleep girl didn't seem to notice. The scar was shaped oddly, like a stick man with his arms crossed over his face and no legs. I knit my eyebrows as a voice spoke behind her.

"She had quite and eventful night," I whirled around to look at the ghostly version of my friend who now had the same skin tone as the living one. It was getting harder to tell the two apart, for me at least. Thalia's ghostly eyes glittered sadly at me.

"You knew about this and didn't tell me?!" I asked, astonished, but at this point I shouldn't really be surprised.

"Yeah. Unfortunately we aren't the only ones who have finally figured out how to work in a body. Thalia's mother finally gained control last night," she said and my blood ran cold. I looked down at the sleeping girl before me.

"Then it's almost time," I muttered and she nodded sadly.

"I don't think I know how to subdue her, I only know that if we are to live we have to fight together. Nico might be able to banish her for good once she's out in the open with Piper's help, but she isn't strong enough yet. She must wait for her host to regain it's health before she can push it to the limits again. Thalia wasn't in good health before, once she's healed mother will take full control." Her voice was cold, dark, and knowing this could very well be the end of Thalia's life as well as mine. I had already made myself a promise, and I know that she sensed it too. If it came down to it and the only way to stop her was to kill Thalia, I'd go too. I was not going to live with the fact that I had killed my best friend, and the only person who had gotten through my barriers in what felt like an eternity. I sighed.

"We will do as it is needed," I said to the ghost and she nodded sadly, before dissapearing. I sat next to Thalia and closed my eyes. I would not cry. I would not cry over something as stupid as a stupid ghost who was tearing my heart apart, but it felt like San Juan all over again. I remembered the day too well. I could almost feel the metal in my hands and the sensation as I killed the first monster I would ever kill. My father. Now Thalia's mother was a mania and she was the one about to kill anything, and everything she could.

"I'm sorry," I whispered softly as the tears came. Why did I have to be stupid enough to end up maybe having to kill the only person that could make me smile anymore? I mean yes I had friends, but the smiles and laughs I shared with them were forced. I had literally built up defenses so strong I barely felt anything anymore, and Thalia somehow knew just how to break my defenses enough to make me want to scream. I hated how much I depended on her just to make me feel something these days. I needed her, as little as I wanted to admit it. Thalia cracked an eye open and gently wrapped an arm around me, pulling her close to me. She smiled softly and just found herself burrowing into my side.

"I love you Rey," she whispered softly and kissed my forehead, causing the familiar tingles and butterflies in my stomach. I found myself leaning into her as I tried to ignore the growing tumor of knowing. Knowing that no matter what, someone was going to lose something in the days to come, it was guaranteed.


	28. Sleep is for the weak

Thalia's POV

A week is usually enough time for any reasonable human to get rid of a fever and be completely cured. Unfortunately I am not a reasonable human. I am a sick human laying under piles of blankets as my entire body felt like it was stuck in a glacier. Reyna's been doing her best to help, but between her school work, taking care of me, and disappearing for hours a day to do mysterious training she refuses to tell me about, she barely even sleeps.

"Reyna?" I called from my position of being restrained by the amount of blankets pinning me to the bed. 

"Yeah?" I heard a voice off to my left and saw a certain daughter of Bellona sitting under a pile of English textbooks, and suddenly felt really guilty for drawing her attention away from the book. She had circles under her eyes and her hair was a complete rat's nest.

"Uh... never mind," I said and rolled over, ignoring the dryness of my throat, but I had already attracted her attention. As if she could read my mind she slid a glass of water across the nightstand before going back to her notes.

"You're welcome," she muttered and I just quietly finished off the water, trying to ignore the pounding in my head. My cold body had suddenly grown hot and I unburied myself from all of the blankets, landing myself free of that stupid hell hole of fabric. Reyna was falling asleep in her notebook. I sighed.

"Reyna," I called again, waking her up. She sat bolt upright, eyes wide.

"What?" she asked.

"Put the notebook down, and get some sleep. You've barely slept in the last week. You look about to pass out," I said and she sighed softly, putting the textbook away.

"You're right, but..." she trailed off, pressing a hand to her forehead, "I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. I just... everything is crashing down around me," she rubbed her head and I stared at her for a moment.

"The weight of the world huh?" I asked, remembering a certain quest with a certain huntress. I smiled sadly. "If you want to know about the weight of the world, just ask Percy and Annabeth. They literally held up the sky," 

"I know. I just... I'm really stressed out," she muttered and rubbed her temples. I moved over in the bed and pat the spot next to me.

"Come lay down next to me," I whispered and she flopped down beside me. I lay my head on her shoulder. "Better?" I asked softly. She sniffed.

"Hardly. I still have to write three reports and go to a training session with-" she broke off, suddenly realizing she'd said to much. I ignored the last part for her sanity's sake and just laced my fingers through hers.

"Do it tomorrow, you've got a whole weekend to figure it out. Just relax," I told her. She sighed and looked at our hands.

"I can't relax when there's a potential-" I cut her off by grabbing her chin and turning her towards me so I could kiss her. She slowly lost the rim rod posture and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I leaned into her, gently sliding my fingers around her back and pinning her down to the bed. She tried to push me off and get up, but I was fortunately very strong and able to keep her down. We broke apart panting lightly, her cheeks were tinted pink and her eyes were a little dazed. I smiled down at her.

"Did you-you just?" she muttered and I leaned my face down close to her, the unnatural warmth in my body no longer having anything to do with a fever, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

"I did," I whispered before kissing her again. Her hands snaked up my sides and tangled themselves in my hair, my body felt like it was coursing with electricity. She made a soft noise and bit down on my lower lip, earning a similar response from myself. I gently reached down to cradle the side of her face. Needless to say this continued long into the night.

 

Reyna's POV

I hadn't had a good night's sleep in a week and now I was waking up at two in the afternoon, wrapped in sheets, and in my girlfriends arms. The daughter of Zeus had her head resting right next to mine, her forehead touching my own and our legs were tangled together. I smiled softly and reached up to brush the hair out of her face and her eyes fluttered at my touch. Those dark blue depths glittered at me as a sleepy smile graced her lips. (Pun not intended) 

"Morning Roman," she whispered in a drowsy voice and kissed my nose, a soft chuckle found its way out of my throat. 

"Good morning sparky," I responded and ruffled her hair, getting a toothy grin in response. I stood and started getting dressed when a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind. I rolled my eyes. "Thalia, I have to get dressed," 

"Whyyyyyy..." she whined like a five year old and pulled me back onto the bed and laying her head on my shoulder.

"Because your brother decided he wanted to drag me to a basket-ball game. If you're really feeling better, which I assume you are, you can come too," I said to my pouting girlfriend, who brightened up like a lightbulb.

"Okay," she said before leaping off the bed to put on some clothes and leave me sitting on the bed with a bright red face.

"Oh, stop being such a nerd, it's not like you haven't already seen it," she called over her shoulder and earning a brighter blush across my cheeks and I quickly yanked a hoodie over my head to end the conversation.

 

A half hour later me and Thalia were walking arm and arm to the school gymnasium where Jason, Piper, and Annabeth were waiting for our arrival. As soon as we entered the gym Jason waved at us from the top of the bleachers, looking like a total dork with those glasses. Laughing softly Thalia and I made our way up to them. Jason smiled at us.

"Glad to see you made it. I asked if we could have some gym time after the game, you up for a little rematch," he said and shoved me as I rolled my eyes.

"No thank you, that was a one time deal," I muttered and he pouted while Thalia rose an eyebrow.

"Rematch?" she asked and before I could reply Jason slung an arm over my shoulders.

"Yeah, about a week ago Reyna whooped me at basket-ball. Like I've never seen her move that fast," he said and I lightly shoved him off.

"It was one time, we both know you're better then me at basket-ball," I muttered, but he just rolled his eyes.

"Come on, please," he gave me the puppy eyes and I sighed.

"Fine, but only if it'll make you stop bugging me about it," I muttered softly and Jason cheered. A voice suddenly breaking into the conversation

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I glanced over my shoulder to see ghost Thalia sitting beside me, she stole some guy's popcorn and ate a couple pieces before offering the bucket to me. I gave her a weird look.

"Hey, I'll play it safe, he'll win, and It'll be water under the bridge," I hissed under my breath. Jason and Thalia had gotten into a playful squabble while Piper and Annabeth were talking about classes. I just turned to look at the ghost who looked like she wasn't so sure.

"That's not how it works. Jason played against, Βασίλισσα των Ουρανών, not you, and therefore challenged Βασίλισσα των Ουρανών to a rematch, not you. Whether you allow it or not Βασίλισσα των Ουρανών is a part of you now and she can take control when she wants. She definitely wants to beat him, because unfortunately she's compettitive like me," she said and I blinked.

"Βασίλισσα των Ουρανών?" I asked, knowing it was greek, but not sure on the translation.

"That's what you were, we were when we combined. It wasn't me, and it wasn't you. It was a combination, a combination that my mother wont be able to defeat," she explained, as if that were obvious, and I just gave her an odd look.

"Well what was I supposed to do. He's going to keep badgering me until we play again," I muttered snd the ghost just sighed.

"At least wear sunglasses or something, we don't want them to catch on," she muttered.

"Yeah, what happened to my eyes anyway?" I asked, curiously. Thalia sighed.

"Well, imagine your body with my eyes and you have a pretty accurate description of what you looked like," the ghost answered and the mental image was a bit weird.

"Uh... what?" heard Thalia, the other Thalia ask, with a raised eyebrow.

"I just had something in my eye," I muttered toward the daughter of Zeus who leaned over, and before I could fully register it, had grabbed my chin and was looking me in the eyes, like she was trying to find something, a blush crossed my face at how close we were to each other.

"Tha-Thalia, I'm fine," I muttered and tried to push her away, but she just tightened her grip around me. I nearly fell over and instead found my self nearly laying on top of her as she grinned down at me evilly, blue eyes flashing with electricity.

"Thalia!" I complained, "We-We're in public," she just leaned her face close to mine.

"I don't care," she whispered heavily.


	29. Maybe we should just move into a hospital, it'd be safer

This is not how I had planned this to go. In fact, I was pretty sure that I had planned for the exact opposite. I had planned to calmly go to a basketball game with my girlfriend and peacefully enjoy the evening. Then Jason, Jason mother fucking grace, decided to challenge me to a basket-ball game. Now I am possessed by my girlfriend's thirteen year old self and basically mopping him Across the court. Okay, so not exactly possessed, but I'm not in control either, so sort of join hosting? Is that even a thing? Ugh, this is starting to give me a head ache. Look, all I know is that Jason is sprawled out on his back in the middle of the Basket-ball court and I'm hanging from the backboard by one hand.

"Yeah! Go Reyna!" Thalia cheered as I dropped back to the floor and attempted not to fall onto my face as the world lightly spun. Okay, so spirit possession results in feeling really friking dizzy. Like, really dizzy.

Percy whopped for joy and our fellow demigods ran down the bleachers to mob me. Thalia grabbed me by the waist and the next thing I knew I was being carried upside down on a Demigod mountain, I don't even know what the Fuck just happened, and I don't really care. I just want to go home and sleep, my head feels like an anvil and my sight is blurry, which probably isn't a good sign. The demigods yelling and jumping around me isn't helping. After a moment of struggling and kneeing several people in the face, I made my way back to solid ground and managed to dystangle myself from the crowd of demigods, who moved on quickly to run my, sorta, victory in Jason's face.

"Ugh," I grumbled and placed a hand to my head, as it pounded like a fire alarm.

"You okay?" a voice asked beside me and I nearly jumped out of my skin before a very familiar girl with black hair and freckles steadied me. "Woah, calm down there, tiger," Thalia muttered.

"Sorry, just didn't see you there," I muttered and the daughter of Zeus laughed.

"Yeah, I got that. You feeling okay? You look a bit pale?" she asked and worriedly placed a hand to my head. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm fine, you're the one who was sick," I grumbled and shoved her lightly. She laughed lightly, but the smile soon faded, something worried in her gaze.

"What's up with your eyes?" she asked and leaned her face closer to mine as I attempted to back away. She grabbed me by the shoulders and held me in one place. 

"Thalia-" I started to protest, but her eyebrows knit in concentration.

"Did you hit your head? Your eyes are dilated, and you look pretty dizzy, you should sit down," she muttered and, before I could protest, had seated me on one of the bleachers and handed me a water bottle.

"I-" I tried again to protest, but failed.

"Drink, you look about ready to collapse," she said and I sighed.

"Thalia I'm fi-"

"Drink!" she ordered.

"Thalia!" I tried again to protest that I was fine, but the daughter of Zeus simply grabbed the bottle and poured it down my throat before I could finish the protest. I started coughing, but as soon as the liquid was in my mouth I seemed to realize how bad I felt, and it all came crashing down at once. My mouth was dry, the world was spinning around me, badly, and my vision was unfocused as well as double. As if that wasn't enough my pounding head ache only got worse, and bringning with it the horrible aching pain in my left knee. I groaned painfully and drained the water bottle before I could fully register the pain.

"There, feel better?" she asked, looking satisfied.

"Worse actually," I grumbled and she rolled her eyes.

"I mean seriously, did you hit your head? You're acting like you've got a concussion," I rolled my eyes.

"Don't worry about it, let's just go back to the dorm so I can sleep it off," I muttered, but as soon as I stood my vision swam with black dots, and my legs nearly gave out. Thalia caught me easily, but the worry in her face was worsening with my condition.

"Reyna, this is serious, we should get Will to take a look at you," she tried, and I again tried to brush her off, but as I did my legs completely gave out on me, spilling me to the ground, and Thalia knelt down next to me.

"Reyna!" she yelled, my vision swam between a really close up, blurry focus of the ground, and darkness, until finally the darkness overwhelmed the rest of my senses.


End file.
